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TI;'<    STORY  OF 

XJFHY  JORDAN 


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CLAR 


ROLD 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  STORY  OF  DOROTHY  JORDAN 


BOOKS  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

THE  EARLY  COURT  OF 
QUEEN   VICTORIA 

THE  MARRIED   LIFE  OF 
QUEEN  VICTORIA 

THE  FAIR  LADIES  OF 
HAMPTON  COURT 

THE  BEAUX  AND  THE 
DANDIES 

ELIZABETH   IN  SEARCH  OF 
A  HUSBAND 


3Kerr. 


^~fs*>fa>Gv/U'  J'&faLa,'??/, 


•/s&' 


THE  STORY  OF 
DOROTHY  JORDAN 


BY 

CLARE    JERROLD 

AUTBOR  OF 
'  THH  KARLV  COURT  OP  QUERN  VICTORIA,"  KTf. 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS   FROM    THE 
COLLECTIONS    OF  A.    M.    BROADLEY  AND    OTHERS 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 
1914 


College 
Library 


PREFACE 

IN  Mrs.  Jordan's  life  —  "delightful  Mrs.  Jordan, 
whose  voice  did  away  the  cares  of  the  whole  house  " 
—  there  was  no  mystery  :  she  was  frank,  gay  and 
sensible,  holding  reserve  only  upon  those  things  which 
she  thought  might  discredit  people  whom  she  loved. 
Yet  her  biographers,  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  and  James 
Boaden,  managed  to  find  mystery  at  every  step  of  her 
career.  The  mystery  about  the  date  and  place  of  her 
birth  was  simple  enough  :  firstly,  no  one  tried  to  solve 
it,  and  secondly,  Mrs.  Jordan  had  no  wish  for  people 
to  say  that  she  was  nearly  four  years  older  than  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  ;  has  it  not  always  been  a  woman's 
privilege  to  be  vague  about  the  year  of  her  birth? 
The  mystery  about  her  father's  and  mother's  station 
in  life  needed  seeking  in  the  right  direction,  though 
that  which  surrounded  their  asserted  marriage  was 
perhaps  more  difficult.  The  reason  generally  given 
for  the  adoption  of  the  name  of  Jordan  rests  only  on 
the  word  of  that  genial  and  self-complacent  boaster, 
Tate  Wilkinson,  who  gives  several  versions  of  his 
share  in  that  matter.  Whether  the  Duke  took  money 
from  her  or  she  took  money  from  him  has  been  the 
cause  of  another  argument;  her  biographers  hastily 
scouting  the  first  idea  with  royal  scorn.  Her  separa- 
tion from  the  Duke,  after  twenty  years  of  life  together, 
and  the  cause  of  her  exile,  were  deliberately  turned  into 
mystery  by  the  two  contemporary  writers,  one  of  whom 


1221887 


vi  Preface 

at  least  professed  to  know  all  the  circumstances. 
James  Boaden,  author,  dramatist,  dramatic  critic  and 
editor  of  the  Oracle,  even  tried  to  make  a  mystery  of 
the  last  event  of  all,  and  adduced  facts  to  prove  that 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  not  dead. 

Why  should  all  this  have  been,  seeing  what  an  open- 
hearted,  downright  woman  she  was  ?  The  reason  was 
not  far  to  seek.  These  two  biographies  were  written 
during  the  life  of  William  IV;  Barrington's  before 
1830,  and  Boaden's  in  1830 — and  both  these  men  wor- 
shipped at  the  shrine  of  royalty;  they  kissed  the  feet 
of  the  King,  and,  obedient  creatures,  strove  hard  to 
blot  from  their  pages  everything  which  could  hurt  his 
extremely  delicate  susceptibilities.  The  very  strength 
of  their  protestations  as  to  the  virtue  and  honour  of 
William  partly  gave  their  case  away.  In  a  recent 
biography  of  Mrs.  Jordan — published  when  this  book 
was  nearing  completion — there  is  also  a  tendency  to 
save  the  Duke's  character  at  the  woman's  expense,  by 
throwing  doubt  upon  statements  adverse  to  him  made 
by  the  author  of  a  third  early  book  upon  the  actress's 
life;  an  author  who,  undaunted  save  in  declaring  his 
name,  voiced  during  the  reign  of  William  the  beliefs 
of  the  multitude  and  the  pronouncements  of  the  day. 
This  anonymous  writer  added  much  to  the  accounts 
given  by  Barrington  concerning  Mrs.  Jordan's  death 
and  burial. 

In  the  present  volume  will  be  found  authorized 
statements,  many  of  which  have  never  before  been 
published,  as  to  Dorothy  Jordan's  parentage,  both  on 
her  father's  and  mother's  sides;  as  to  her  brothers, 
sisters  and  other  relatives,  showing  her  to  have  been 
the  centre  of  a  large  family  group;  also  indisputable 


Preface  vii 

evidence  of  the  date  of  her  birth  and  baptismal  name, 
hitherto  frankly  regarded  as  impossible  of  discovery. 
A  new  reason  is  here  suggested,  based  upon  family 
matters,  for  her  adoption  of  the  theatrical  name  of 
Jordan;  here  is  her  own  evidence  as  to  the  Duke's 
constant  acceptance  of  benefit  from  her  work,  and 
legal  proof  as  to  the  way  in  which  he  repaid  part  of  the 
sums  she  lent  him.  Here  from  contemporary  writings 
is  shown  why  she  and  the  Duke  parted,  and  why  she 
went  to  France ;  and  here  is  conclusive  evidence  of  her 
death.  Thus  much  new  light  is  thrown,  not  only  upon 
the  life  of  Dorothy  Jordan,  but  upon  the  character 
of  that  obstinate,  erratic,  stupid,  good-natured  and 
intensely  selfish  King  known  as  William  IV. 

For  the  knowledge  which  I  have  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  obtain  I  am  grateful  to  many  friends.  First  and 
foremost  to  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley,  who,  possessing  a 
large  number  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  autograph  letters  and 
other  documents,  suggested  the  writing  of  this  book, 
lent  me  all  he  had  on  the  subject,  and  gave  many  of 
the  illustrations.  Mr.  Broadley  had  already  caused 
the  registers  of  and  around  Waterford — the  place 
usually  assigned  to  her  birth — to  be  searched,  and  as 
these  gave  no  proof,  pointed  out  to  me  the  place  where 
it  might  be — and  was — found.  It  was  he,  also,  who 
instituted  inquiries  at  St.  Cloud,  the  place  of  her  death, 
and  successfully  discovered  valuable  evidence. 

Another  most  kind  and  valued  helper  has  been 
Mr.  J.  Franklin  Fuller,  F.S.A.,  of  Dublin,  a  descend- 
ant of  the  Bland  family,  who  has  not  only  lent  me 
priceless  books  and  letters,  but  at  much  expense  of 
time  to  himself  has  aided  me  in  clearing  up  disputed 
points,  secured  for  me  portraits  of  Mrs.  Jordan's 


viii  Preface 

relatives  and  the  right  of  quoting  from  family  corre- 
spondence. To  these  two  I  owe  more  than  I  can 
repay. 

I  offer  my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  Earl 
of  Munster  for  permission  to  reproduce  the  statue  of 
Mrs.  Jordan,  executed  by  Chantrey;  to  Mr.  Horace 
Bleackley,  M.A.,  who  kindly  allowed  me  to  consult 
in  his  library  otherwise  unobtainable  books  and  maga- 
zines; to  Mr.  Richard  Kelly  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Lawrence, 
who  together  gave  me  the  key  which  opened  one  door 
of  knowledge;  to  General  Thomas  Bland  Strange, 
R.A.,  for  permission  to  use  letters;  to  Mr.  William 
Roberts  for  information  concerning  the  portraits  of 
Dorothy  Jordan;  and  also  to  Mrs.  White  of  Dublin, 
Major  L.  Hewson  and  Messrs.  Duveen  Brothers  for 
permission  to  reproduce  pictures. 

CLARE  JERROLD. 

Hampton-on-  Thames. 


CONTENTS 

CHAf.  'AGE 

i  DOROTHY'S  FAMILY n 

ii  DOROTHY'S  PARENTS 31 

III  THAT   RUFFIAN    DALY 4^ 

IV  "IT!   THE   GREAT  TREASURE" 56 

V  DOROTHY   AND   THE   BRITISH    PUBLIC     .           .           .  8 1 

VI  RIVALRY   AND   LOVE      .....           .           •  99 

VII  SUCCESS   AND    FAILURE II? 

VIII  A   RELAPSE             .           .            .      -  >    j-jrrfj          •           •           •  *32 

IX  THE    PRINCE   AND   MR.    FORD           .        ,,..;        .           .           .  146 

X  THE   PRINCE 163 

XI  DOMESTICITY   AND   WORK      .            .           .       '"',""'       .           .  183 

XII  FROM    PETERSHAM   TO   BUSHY   PARK       ....  204 

XIII  FAMILY   CARES      .                       .           ,                       «                      .  229 

xiv  "SLINGS  AND  ARROWS"      .        .              •  .        .        .  248 

XV  DAME   GOSSIP   AND   DOROTHY       ••• »,  .    -    »  .  -       .           .           .  269 

XVI  TOIL   AND   TROUBLE     '»'*'•           .           .           .           .           .  289 

XVII  THE   SEPARATION  .  .  .  .  .  .  .310 

XVIII  CUPID    YERSUS  CASH 333 

XIX  THOSE   DOROTHY    LOVED       -.           .          -,          -.   ,                   .  355 

XX  DEATH   THE   RELEASER           .           ,           .           .           •           •  3?6 

XXI  THE   DEAD   AND   THE   LIVING          .           ,    .       .       .    «           .  399 

XXII  GATHERED   ENDS -  4'5 

INDEX             .           .           . 423 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  fact  page 

DOROTHY  JORDAN         .         .         ,  .         Frontispiece 

(Front  a  painting  by  John  Hoppner,  R.A.     Reproduced  front  a  photograph 
by  kind  permission- of  Messrs.  Duveen  Brothers) 

JUDGE   BLAND        .  .  .  ...  .  .  .24 

DERRIQUIN  CASTLE,  SEA  FRONT  .    'P    .     .     .     .    34 

*DOROTHY   JORDAN,  RICHARD   DALY  AND   FRANCES  DALY 

(MRS.  ALSOP)  .     ,«  ,r, 54 

*DOROTHY   JORDAN   AS    PEGGY   IN    THE  COUNTRY  GIRL      .  .         82 

(After  Romney) 

WILLIAM,    DUKE   OF  CLARENCE        .        . -,     '      \  "      V'         .  .       148 

(front  a  miniature  by  Cosway) 

*SIR   RICHARD   FORD   AND   LIEUT.    CHARLES   POWLETT  DOYNE   .       l8o 

*DOROTHY     JORDAN    AS     HYPOLITA     IN   SHE    WOULD   AND   SHE 

WOULD  NOT 2  2O 

DOROTHY  JORDAN   AS   THE   COMIC   MUSE  ....      304 

(From  a  mezzotint  after  Hoppner  in  the  collection  of  ike  Cunard  Company) 

DOROTHY   JORDAN  .  .  .       >    ,  ./       ....       346 

(From  a  pastel  by  John  Russell,  R.A.) 

DOROTHY   JORDAN  418 

(from  the  statue  by  Chantrey  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  ofAfunster) 


*  These  illustrations  are  reproduced  from  prints  in  the 
Collection  of  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley. 


THE 
STORY    OF    DOROTHY  JORDAN 

CHAPTER    I 

DOROTHY'S  FAMILY 

"  What  is  known  can  seldom  be  immediately  told,  and  when  it  might 
be  told  it  is  no  longer  known." — MALEY'S  Historical  Recollections. 

"  How  happy  the  soldier  who  lives  on  his  pay, 
And  spends  half-a-crown  out  of  sixpence  a  day." 

From  a  song  sung  by  Dorothy  Jordan. 

IF  there  is  one  person  in  our  later  history  who  might 
stand  as  the  type  of  motherhood,  it  is  Dorothy  Bland, 
later  known  as  Mrs.  Jordan.  Her  great  yet  unblessed 
quality  was  protectiveness,  and  from  her  childhood  she 
expended  her  sympathy  and  help  upon  those  who  were 
weak  and  appealing;  in  her  girlhood  she  supported 
those  who  should  have  worked  for  her,  in  her  woman- 
hood she  spent  herself  upon  her  children  and  upon 
the  helpless  man  who,  thinking  he  conferred  honour, 
made  extravagant  demands  upon  her  income,  her 
strength  and  her  love.  She  gave  with  both  hands, 
gave  honestly  and  fearlessly,  and  though  in  middle 
life  she  refused  to  go  penniless  when  called  upon  to 
stand  bereft  of  all  before  the  world,  yet  she  never  took 
back  the  love  she  had  given,  never  publicly  uttered  a 
word  of  reproach  against  the  Duke  who  cast  her  entirely 

ii 


12     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

out  of  his  life,  while  her  daughter  led  the  dance  at  the 
Regent's  balls  and  her  sons  were  accepted  naturally 
in  Court  circles. 

A  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago  social  morality  was 
much  the  same  as  it  is  now :  a  man  might  become  the 
lover  of  many  women,  and  only  add  a  glorified  halo 
to  his  reputation ;  but  the  woman  who,  in  addition  to 
having  a  lover  was  not  in  an  assured  social  position, 
was  condemned.  An  actress  was,  ipso  facto,  without 
the  pale,  and  the  curious  thing  was  that  it  was  not  so 
much  Society  which  judged  as  the  intellectual  portion 
of  the  community,  that  very  portion  which  now  is 
striving  to  equalize  the  standard  of  morality  between 
man  and  woman,  which  is  beginning  to  assert  that  what 
is  sin  in  the  one  is  sin  in  the  other.  When  Dorothy 
Jordan  lived,  however,  the  gay  and  frivolous  cared 
very  little  what  she  had  done,  and  they  felt  quite  able 
to  judge  between  her  and  the  Prince;  it  remained  for 
the  staid,  reforming  writers  to  expend  their  wrath  and 
indignation  over  the  woman  who  was  the  centre  of  a 
royal  scandal.  It  was  the  virtuous  British  public  which 
screamed  itself  hoarse  in  reprobation  of  her,  and  then 
went  into  the  street  to  cheer  the  Duke  of  Clarence's 
carriage  as  it  splashed  mud  over  them  from  the  gutter. 
After  Dorothy's  death  that  same  public  screamed  at 
the  Duke  and  wept  for  her.  So  far  as  the  public  went 
it  implied  no  more  than  that  it  loved  to  have  its 
feelings  well  moved,  and  that  any  determined  hand 
could  thoroughly  stir  up  the  puddle  of  popular 
emotion. 

When  Boaden,  in  1830,  brought  out  a  life  of  Mrs. 
Jordan,  some  critic  asked  why  such  a  person  should  be 
brought  into  notice  at  all.  Cobbett,  too,  raked  up  an 


Dorothy's  Family  13 

old  story  and  in  extreme  scorn  spoke  of  her  as  "  Mother 
Jordan,"  thus  giving  her  the  great  title  that  really  all 
the  world  loves.  Dr.  Townsend  Young  expressed  his 
belief  in  her  wickedness  when,  in  the  chapter  upon  her 
that  he  added  to  Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  Personal 
Sketches,  he  did  it,  as  he  piously  said,  "  not  merely  to 
enhance  the  value  of  this  volume  by  gratifying  the 
curiosity  created  by  Mrs.  Jordan's  name,  but  also  to 
assert  the  dignity  and  safety  of  principle,  to  point  a 
moral,  and  to  indicate  the  consoling  maxim,  'Virtue 
alone  is  happiness  below.' ' 

That  Dorothy  was  not  virtuous  in  the  way  he  meant 
was  not  her  fault;  the  desire  of  her  life  was  to  be 
legally  married,  and  she  fought  hard  for  the  fulfilment 
of  that  desire,  but  circumstances  were  too  strong  for  her. 
She  was  born  illegitimate,  though  her  parents  lived 
together  for  fifteen  years;  she  was  forced  by  threats 
to  bear  an  illegitimate  child,  and  later,  sophistries 
and  broken  promises  put  her  into  the  position  of  an 
unmarried  wife.  Then  she  gave  up  the  struggle  and 
frankly  became  a  mistress,  and  from  that  time  held 
the  post  of  whipping-boy  to  the  Duke  of  Clarence. 
Her  most  important  biographers,  in  the  frantic  desire 
to  lick  the  Duke's  boots,  regarded  his  grasping  selfish- 
ness as  but  the  manifestation  of  some  amiable  weak- 
ness on  the  woman's  part.  They  were  men,  and  they 
felt,  even  if  unconsciously,  the  natural  sex  bias  for  the 
Duke.  Up  to  the  present  day  all  who  have  written 
upon  Dorothy  Jordan  have  sung  to  the  same  note. 
They  praise,  they  pity,  they  admire,  but  through  every 
phase  of  their  recitals,  there  rings  a  faint  cynicism,  a 
consciousness  that  the  subject  of  their  memoirs  was, 
after  all,  only  a  light  woman,  and  so  not  to  be  treated 


14     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

by  an  ordinary  standard;  they  feel  a  little  apologetic, 
too,  that  such  a  matter  should  engage  their  attention, 
and  a  little  ashamed  of  the  fascination  that  it  holds  for 
them.  They  cannot  believe  that  this  woman  can  have 
wielded  a  good  influence  over  a  Royal  Duke,  and  so 
they  leave  alone  this  side  of  her  character,  and  spend 
pages  in  trying  to  prove  that  only  a  few  harmless 
episodes  can  be  recorded  against  him,  and  that  his 
worst  fault  was  a  want  of  tact. 

So  Dorothy  Jordan  is  now  remembered  as  a 
renowned  actress,  a  person  of  low  origin,  one  who 
knew  not  her  grandfathers,  who  lived  a  mistress  and 
who  died  mysteriously.  While  the  general  idea  of 
William  is  that  he  possessed  bluff,  hearty  ways, 
showed  faithful  affection  to  his  wife  Adelaide,  and 
love  for  his  children ;  that  he  was  a  man  of  hot  temper, 
was  sometimes  rude  to  those  who  annoyed  him,  was 
even  sometimes  a  little  stupid,  but  that  he  was  the  best 
of  the  .Georgian  line  of  kings,  indeed,  as  good  a  king 
as  he  knew  how  to  be. 

But  would  King  William  IV  have  been  even  so 
much  as  this  had  it  not  been  for  Dorothy  Bland — if 
she  had  not  rescued  him  from  the  companionship  of 
his  dissipated  brothers,  if  she  had  not  given  him  twenty 
years  of  her  life,  fostered  his  domestic  instincts,  kept 
him  respectable  when  all  other  surroundings  tempted 
him  into  irregularities,  and  often  filled  his  empty  purse 
with  her  hard-earned  money? 

By  him  she  had  ten  healthy  children,  whose  numer- 
ous descendants  appear  in  Debrett  and  The  Landed 
Gentry -,  and  most  of  whom  founded  or  strengthened 
our  noble  families.  Among  them  now,  at  least,  her 
name  is  honoured,  even  though  her  eldest  son  and 


Dorothy's  Family  15 

daughter  were  too  uplifted  by  their  father's  rank  to 
remember  their  mother.  But  Elands  and  Fitzclarences 
alike  now  prize  the  memory  of  the  gallant,  loyal,  little 
woman  to  whom  laughter  was  life,  and  who  died 
despairingly  when  tears  burned  her  cheeks  and  sorrow 
filled  her  heart. 

Strangely  enough  the  great  purist,  Queen  Victoria 
herself,  helped  to  pick  Dorothy  out  of  the  contemptu- 
ous public  indifference,  when  she  allowed  her  grand- 
daughter, our  Princess  Royal,  the  daughter  of  King 
Edward  and  a  sister  of  our  present  King,  to  marry  the 
Duke  of  Fife,  a  great-grandson  of  Dorothy  through 
her  daughter  Elizabeth.  Queen  Victoria,  before  her 
moral  sentiments  became  too  rigid,  was  very  tender- 
hearted, and  to  Dorothy's  family  she  was  always  good, 
even  to  the  extent  of  allowing  from  her  own  purse  an 
annuity  of  £100  a  year  to  Hester,  the  actress's  eldest 
sister,  until  her  death  in  1848. 

If  mother-love  was  Dorothy's  strongest  quality,  its 
cousin,  loyalty,  was  almost  as  sturdy.  From  the  first 
to  the  last  she  uttered  no  complaint  against  those  who 
put  their  burdens  on  her  shoulders,  an  insincere  and 
weak  father,  a  dependent  mother,  incapable  brothers 
and  sisters,  selfish  children,  and  the  broken  reed  of  a 
man  upon  whom  she  put  her  trust ;  she  bore  with  them 
all,  through  good  and  ill,  and,  as  far  as  those  outside 
her  home  knew,  their  faults  were  for  her  writ  in  water. 

"  Had  he  left  me  to  starve  I  would  never  have 
uttered  a  word  to  his  disadvantage  !  "  she  once  said  of 
the  Duke,  and  she  meant  it.  To  the  end  of  her  life 
she  shielded  him  and  all  of  them  with  a  fine  generosity, 
and  they  all  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  left 
her  to  face  loneliness  and  death  unshielded  herself. 


1 6     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Surely  an  account  of  her  life  is  worth  writing,  not 
so  much  by  way  of  categorical  description  of  her  daily 
round  and  common  task,  as  in  revealment  of  her 
character  and  as  an  account  of  the  romance  which  from 
first  to  last  hovered  round  her.  Yet  it  may  be  wondered 
whether  the  strength  of  romantic  love  ever  claimed 
her  personally,  whether  in  her  youth  she  had  the 
chance  of  expending  herself  upon  one  whose  touch 
could  send  a  thrill  through  her  veins,  or  whose  glance 
could  bring  a  glow  to  her  face. 

Daly,  the  man  who  in  her  girlhood  regarded  her 
simply  as  a  feminine  thing  placed  naturally  within  his 
grasp,  she  loathed  with  all  her  heart.  Richard  Ford  ! 
she  must  have  liked  him  well  to  have  accepted  him, 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  she  loved  him  with  any 
intensity.  When  it  came  to  the  Duke  of  Clarence  girl- 
hood had  departed,  her  life  was  arranged,  and  romance 
had  fled  on  the  delicate  wings  of  innocence.  Yet  faith- 
ful love  and  loyalty  remained,  and  these  she  nurtured 
and  poured  out  upon  him  and  her  children.  There 
were  many  storms  in  her  existence,  and  there  were 
exquisite  times  of  happiness  as  there  must  always  be 
for  one  who  loves  much ;  but  the  whole  was  completed 
by  months  of  martyrdom  caused  by  those  she  had 
cherished,  by  their  stupidity,  their  self-love  and  the 
fatal  fault  of  leaving  to  others  to  do  the  thing  that 
should  have  been  done  by  themselves. 

****** 

It  has  not  been  easy  to  determine  the  parentage  and 
early  surroundings  of  Dorothy  Jordan,  for  the  earliest 
publications  about  her  were  not  correct,  yet  correct 
enough  to  be  generally  disbelieved,  as  they  showed 
her  birth  to  be  not  altogether  despicable.  Probably 


Dorothy's  Family  17 

the  first  published  account  of  her  was  in  a  number  of 
the  Town  and  Country  Magazine  in  1786,  though  it 
was  very  slight.  James  Boaden,  who  was  a  journalist 
and  who  knew  her  personally,  gives  in  his  Life  of  Mrs. 
Jordan  a  by  no  means  true  account  of  her  parents,  but 
he  followed  other  publications  which  had  never  been 
contradicted,  and  he  was  partly  right.  Jordan's  Elixir 
of  Life,  first  published  in  1788,  provided  the  best  sum- 
mary that  can  be  found.  This  little  book  was  a  selec- 
tion of  songs  sung  by  her,  issued  at  a  time  when  her 
gaiety  had  infected  the  public,  when  crowds  would 
gather  at  the  stage  door  to  watch  her  step  into  her 
carriage,  and  when  her  acting,  her  salary,  and  her 
private  life  formed  the  staple  topic  of  conversation 
among  theatre  lovers. 

The  Elixir  gave  her  a  father,  Captain  Bland,  a 
mother,  Grace  Philipps,  a  maternal  grandfather, 
paternal  relatives,  four  brothers  and  sisters,  a  birth- 
year  which  was  quite  wrong,  and  declared  her  to  be 
an  orphan.  This  was  followed  by  an  article  in  the 
anonymous  Secret  History  of  the  Green  Room  (written 
by  Joseph  Haslewood,  about  1791),  in  which  these 
facts  were  amplified;  and  the  Bon  Ton  Magazine, 
which  had  been  in  the  habit  of  giving  criticisms  of  her 
in  its  monthly  parts,  practically  lifted  the  "  Secret 
History"  article  for  its  March  number  of  1793.  This 
Bon  Ton  Magazine,  or  Microscope  of  Fashion  and 
Folly,  was  issued  monthly  for  some  years,  and — 
regarded  as  interesting  reading  for  Society — was  most 
extraordinary  in  its  vulgarity  of  moral  tone  and  its 
erotic  prints.  Yet  quite  as  indecent  pictures  were 
published  by  the  caricaturists  and  sold  to  the  populace 
as  well  as  to  those  whose  opportunities  for  licentious- 


1 8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ness  were  increased  by  wealth  and  position.  If  these 
things  were  produced  because — as  the  newspaper 
people  say  of  their  productions  now — they  were  what 
the  public  wanted,  then  the  Royal  Princes  have  been 
somewhat  hardly  treated  in  being  regarded  as  the 
supreme  exponents  of  the  vices  of  their  age.  For  a 
magazine  of  this  sort  could  not  have  been  published 
for  a  decade  had  it  not  been  popular  enough  to  pay  for 
its  production.  Each  month — inter  alia — it  contained 
an  account  of  some  vulgar  amour  among  notable 
people,  accompanied  by  a  picture  emphasizing  their 
follies;  and  seemingly  no  protest  was  ever  offered. 
This  magazine,  however,  appears  not  to  have  been 
considered  worthy  of  preservation,  for  there  are  very 
few  copies  now  in  existence,  the  only  one  I  know  of 
being  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Horace  Bleackley. 

The  next  detailed  account  of  Dorothy  Bland  was 
considerably  later,  when  between  the  years  1826  and 
1831  Sir  Jonah  Harrington  published  the  story  of  her 
death  as  well  as  many  reminiscences  of  her  in  his 
volumes  of  Personal  Sketches.  James  Boaden's  long 
and  rambling  Life  of  the  actress — up  to  the  present 
regarded  as  the  standard  biography — was  written  in 
1830,  and  was  quickly  followed  by  that  peculiar  and 
most  interesting  publication  The  Great  Illegitimates, 
a  collection  not  only  of  personal  reminiscences,  but  of 
much  that  had  appeared  in  the  daily  papers,  as  well 
as  the  usual  biographical  items.  This  book,  which  is 
now  extremely  rare  and  not  to  be  found  either  in  the 
British  Museum  or  the  London  Library,  but  of  which 
I  know  of  two  copies,  one  in  the  library  of  Mr.  Broadley 
and  one  in  that  of  Mr.  J.  Franklin  Fuller,  was  styled 
on  its  front  page  "  The  Great  Illegitimates.  The 


Dorothy's  Family  19 

public  and  private  life  of  that  celebrated  actress,  Miss 
Bland,  otherwise  Mrs.  Ford  or  Mrs.  Jordan,  late  mis- 
tress of  H.R.H.  Duke  of  Clarence,  now  King  William 
IV,  founder  of  the  Fitzclarence  family;  delineating 
the  vicissitudes  attendant  on  her  early  life,  the  splen- 
dour of  her  noon-tide  blaze  as  mistress  of  the  Royal 
Duke,  and  her  untimely  dissolution  at  St.  Cloud,  near 
Paris — resulting  from  a  broken  heart."  This,  accom- 
panied by  numerous  remarks  and  anecdotes  of  illus- 
trious and  fashionable  characters,  was  written  by  a 
"  confidential  friend  of  the  departed." 

There  have  been  various  guesses  as  to  who  the 
confidential  friend  could  have  been,  but  it  is  possible 
that  the  outspoken  book  is  the  anonymous  work  of 
Robert  Huish,  for  a  great  part  of  it  is  included  as 
original  matter  in  his  History  of  the  Life  and  Reign 
of  William  IV ',  published  in  1837.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  Boaden  wrote  it,  but  this  is  unthinkable, 
seeing  that  he  is  subjected  to  much  scorn  in  its  pages 
for  his  obsequiousness  to  royalty. 

In  all  these  biographies  the  date  of  Dorothy's  birth 
is  given  as  1762,  1764,  or  1766,  the  earliest  date  being 
the  most  frequent;  in  all  but  the  Elixir  of  Life  the 
place  is  given  as  Waterford,  or  near  Waterford.  There 
was,  indeed,  no  question  raised  about  it  even  in 
Dorothy  Eland's  lifetime,  and  in  spite  of  the  excite- 
ment caused  by  her  death  in  1816,  and  the  fiercer 
excitement  raised  in  1824  when  her  creditors  were 
advertised  to  receive  five  shillings  in  the  pound,  no 
writer  upon  her  then  or  subsequently  tried  to  verify  the 
statements  made. 

Probably  the  first  person  who  thought  of  doing  this 
was  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley,  who,  possessing  many  auto- 


2O     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

graph  letters  and  documents,  had  the  registers  in  and 
around  Waterford  searched,  but  drew  blank,  and  felt 
convinced  that  the  account  of  Dorothy  Eland's  birth 
in  London  was  correct.  Mr.  J.  Franklin  Fuller,  of 
Dublin,  seeking  for  Bland  information,  and  also  inter- 
ested in  the  great  comedian,  discovered  a  mass  of 
evidence  about  Dorothy's  mother's  family  which  sets 
all  doubts  at  rest. 

It  is  as  well  to  sum  up  the  story  generally  accepted 
about  Mrs.  Jordan's  parentage  and  early  life  before 
relating  the  actual  and  authentic  account. 

Her  mother  was  Grace  Philipps,  one  of  three  sisters, 
daughters  of  a  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philipps.  Her 
father  was  a  Captain  Bland,  who  possessed  a  small 
fortune.  Being  stationed  in  Wales,  he  met  and  fell  in 
love  with  Grace,  inducing  her  to  fly  to  Dublin  with  him, 
where  they  were  safely  married  by  a  Catholic  priest, 
both  being  under  age.  Captain  Bland  was  the  son  of 
a  prominent  civilian  in  Dublin,  a  doctor-at-law,  who 
was  extremely  angry  when  he  found  that  his  son  had 
married  an  actress — (for  Grace  acted  on  the  Dublin 
stage) — and  still  more  angry  when  that  son  took  to  the 
stage  himself.  To  show  his  displeasure  he  stopped  all 
supplies,  and  reduced  the  young  people  to  great  diffi- 
culties. However,  they  had  many  years'  happiness 
together,  and  were  blessed  with  nine  children;  after 
which  Dr.  Bland  caused  the  marriage  to  be  annulled 
on  the  plea  that  it  was  contracted  in  nonage  and  with- 
out his  consent.  Captain  Bland  then  left  his  wife 
and  family  and  married  "  a  nymph  who  adored  him," 
and  who  also  possessed  much  money;  but  he  there- 
upon "  endured  agonies  of  conscience  which  no  riches 
could  deaden,  and  sank  into  an  early  grave,  the  victim 


Dorothy's  Family  21 

of  his  own  heartlessness."  As  long  as  he  lived  Cap- 
tain Bland  sent  some  of  his  new  wife's  money  to  his 
family,  but  at  his  death  they  were  left  destitute,  until 
at  last,  to  quote  the  style  of  the  sentimental  thirties, 
"actuated  by  sentiments  of  common  humanity,  his 
relatives  afforded  some  relief  to  the  offspring,  but 
totally  abandoned  the  wretched  mother  to  her  fate." 

The  account  in  the  Elixir  of  Life  does  not  give 
Bland  military  rank  and  does  not  mention  a  second 
marriage,  but  states  that  after  some  years  of  happy 
life  together  Bland,  having  a  long  and  expensive  ill- 
ness, was  sent  to  the  south  of  France,  but  returned 
home  to  Wales  to  die;  Grace,  for  her  part,  being  so 
occupied  with  the  cares  of  her  family  that  she  devoted 
her  time  exclusively  to  it.  This  account  was  probably 
inspired  by  Dorothy,  that  she  might  not  only  shield 
her  mother,  but  herself  from  the  charge  of  illegitimacy. 
Joseph  Knight,  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,  says  that  the  Elixir  gives  an  untrust- 
worthy account  of  her  life;  the  story  of  the  death  of 
Bland  was  certainly  not  altogether  true,  but  in  other 
respects  it  was  more  trustworthy  than  all  the  other 
accounts  put  together.  Mr.  Knight  also  believed  that 
Dorothy's  father  was  merely  a  stage  underling,  and 
that  he  was  a  scene-shifter  at  Cork  when  Dorothy  was 
acting  there  in  1778,  a  supposition  based  on  a  curious 
error  of  identity  which  will  be  explained  in  its  place. 
Other  accounts  also  ignore  the  statement  in  the  Elixir 
that  Francis  Bland  was  well  connected,  being  cousin 
to  General  James  Johnston  and  to  Sir  Francis  Lumm, 
a  statement  which  was  quite  true. 

On  the  father's  death — the  date  is  not  given — Mrs. 
Bland  was  in  Dublin,  her  two  daughters  being  engaged 


22     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

in  a  milliner's  shop  in  Dame  Street,  and  eventually 
Dolly  went  on  the  stage.  The  number  of  Dorothy's 
brothers  and  sisters  are  variously  estimated  as  four, 
five  and  eight,  the  last  being  the  favourite  number, 
though  only  two  definitely  appear  in  the  published 
histories  and  fragments  about  her  life.  In  face  of  all 
these  vague  and  conflicting  statements  it  is  a  satis- 
faction to  sift  the  false  from  the  true,  fill  up  gaps, 
give  an  account  of  the  families  both  of  father  and 
mother,  of  the  exact  time  and  place  of  her  birth,  sweep 
away  the  mysteries  which  have  been  said  to  envelop 
her  origin  and  later  movements,  the  quarrel  with  the 
Duke  and  her  death,  even  to  supply  at  least  another 
and  perhaps  more  exact  reason  for  the  assumption  of 
the  name  of  Jordan. 

The  following  is  the  true  account  of  her  origin — 
Dorothy  was  of  gentle  birth  on  both  sides,  her 
mother  being  one  of  the  three  daughters  of  the  Rev. 
—  Philipps  of  Carmarthenshire — probably  Richard — 
son  of  the  Rev.  Scuddamore  Philipps  of  Kiffig,  who 
entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1702. 

One  of  the  Philipps  sisters,  who  was  named 
Blanch  Scuddamore  Philipps,  married  a  man  named 
Thomas  Williams,  of  Trelethyn,  a  village  in  the  west 
of  Wales,  two  miles  from  St.  David's.  The  Rev. 
[PRichard]  Philipps  may  have  had  a  living  there  or  at 
St.  Davids,  for  exact  knowledge  as  to  his  domicile  is 
wanting.  But  if  he  lived  there  with  his  daughters  at 
the  western  extremity  of  Wales,  whence  on  fine  days 
the  Wicklow  hills  can  be  dimly  seen,  it  is  curious  to 
think  that  a  straight  line  drawn  thence  to  the  west  of 
Ireland  would  almost  have  passed  over  the  house  near 
the  western  extremity  of  that  country  where  dwelt  the 


Dorothy's  Family  23 

lad  who  was  to  bring  the  second  daughter,  Grace,  both 
happiness  and  misery.  In  Derryquin  Castle,  near 
Sneem,  on  the  estuary  of  the  Kenmare  River,  the 
Atlantic  waves  washing  the  edges  of  its  lawns,  Francis 
Bland,  a  beautiful  if  not  a  clever  boy,  was  growing  up 
to  manhood.  These  girls  from  the  west  of  Wales 
and  this  boy  from  the  west  of  Ireland  were  to  meet  in 
Dublin,  a  meeting  which  was  on  both  sides  brought 
about  by  the  positions  of  the  fathers  of  the  young 
people. 

A  clergyman's  life  in  a  country  place  in  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  was  not  altogether  enviable, 
and  so  the  three  daughters  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Philipps 
determined  that  they  had  a  choice  between  work  and 
poverty.  Most  girls  would  have  accepted  the  lesson 
taught  them  that  their  work  lay  at  home,  and  that  they 
were  destined  to  welcome  both  it  and  poverty.  But 
by  some  strange  influence  these  girls  had  become 
stage-struck,  which  was  probably  a  sore  grief  to  their 
father,  for  an  actor  then  had  no  status  higher  than  that 
of  a  strolling  player  and  vagabond. 

It  seems  as  though  the  eldest  girl  tried  a  flight  in 
London  first,  as  a  Miss  Philipps  was  acting  Zara 
in  a  play  of  that  name  in  the  season  of  1755-6  at 
Covent  Garden  when  Thomas  Sheridan  was  there,  and 
he,  perhaps,  engaged  her  to  go  to  his  theatre  in  Dublin 
when  he  re-opened  it  in  the  autumn  of  1756.  In  any 
case,  two  or  three — the  number  is  variously  given — of 
the  Philipps  sisters  appeared  there  then,  with  the 
record  of  being  determined  to  act  together,  and  of 
being  able  to  supplement  each  other's  parts.  Hitch- 
cock, the  historian  of  the  Irish  stage,  described  them 
as  ladies  who  had  received  a  finished  and  accomp- 


24     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

lished  education.  He  asserts  in  one  place  that  one 
married  an  actor  named  Usher,  but  this  seems  wrong, 
as  all  three  can  be  accounted  for.  Blanch  eventually 
married  Williams,  and  lived  at  Trelethyn  for  the  rest 
of  her  life.  Another,  Miss  M.  Philipps — I  have 
adopted  the  family  way  of  spelling  the  name — did  not 
marry  at  all,  but  continued  acting ;  the  other,  generally 
regarded  as  the  second  sister,  Grace,  became  in  course 
of  time  the  mother  of  Dorothy  Bland,  Mrs.  Jordan. 

At  this  time  a  man  of  great  importance  in  Dublin 
city  was  Judge  Nathaniel  Bland,  for  he  was  not  only 
a  man  of  wealth  and  estate,  but  one  of  great  attain- 
ment as  well  as  of  great  family,  by  which  I  do  not 
simply  mean  rich  and  powerful,  but  rather  that  it  was 
a  family  so  prolific,  so  skilled  and  so  energetic  that 
it  made  itself  felt  through  centuries  both  in  Eng- 
land, Ireland  and  America.  The  name  of  Bland  was 
taken  from  Eland's  Gill,  a  hamlet  in  the  parish  of 
Sedbergh  in  the  north  of  Yorkshire,  where  the  Blands 
long  lived,  and  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  family  doings  are  recorded. 

In  1303  a  Bland  was  Mayor  of  London,  and  in  the 
same  century  Patricius  de  Bland  of  Yorkshire  fur- 
nished men  to  the  king  for  expeditions  against  the 
Scots.  In  1557  a  John  Bland  brought  to  England  the 
first  intimation  of  the  Spanish  preparations  for  the 
Armada,  and  from  Sedbergh  came  the  learned  and 
pious  John  Bland,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Adisham  in  Kent, 
who  with  three  others  suffered  martyrdom  by  burning 
at  Canterbury  in  1555.  In  1560  one  Adam  Bland  was 
appointed  Sergeant  Skinner  to  Queen  Elizabeth;  two 
hundred  years  later  a  Mary  Bland  was  the  grand- 
mother of  Lord  Nelson,  while  Dean  Bland  was  a 


JUDGE    BLAND 

(THE  ORIGINAL  on.  TAINTING  is  IN  THE  POSSESSION  OF  MAJOR  i..  IIEWSON) 


Dorothy's  Family  25 

figure  in  elegant  literature  as  well  as  provost  of  Eton 
in  the  early  eighteenth  century. 

When  Henry  Viscount  Sydney  became  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland  in  1692  he  took  with  him  as 
chaplain  James  Bland,  a  descendant  of  the  old  family 
stock,  gave  him  the  vicarage  of  Killarney  and  succes- 
sively appointed  him  Archdeacon  of  Aghadoe  and 
Dean  of  Ardfert.  This  Bland  married  Lucy,  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Brewster,  who  held  large 
forfeited  estates  in  Kerry. 

This  James  Bland  begat  two  sons  and  three 
daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  Francis,  who 
became  the  Vicar  of  Killarney  after  his  father;  the 
second,  Nathaniel,  was  born  in  1702,  and  the  daughters 
were  Lucy,  Dorothea  and  Hester,  a  triad  of  names 
which  appears  again  and  again  in  the  Bland  family; 
one  of  these  was  grandmother  to  Lord  Napier,  the 
conqueror  of  Scind. 

But  Nathaniel  was  the  person  of  importance  in  this 
generation,  his  great  capacities  bringing  him  honours, 
even  in  his  own  country.  In  time  he  became  a  doctor- 
at-law,  held  the  Metropolitan  Seal  at  Dublin,  sitting 
in  that  city  as  Judge  in  the  Prerogative  Court,  and 
he  purchased  Derryquin  Castle,  a  beautiful  house, 
whether  viewed  from  the  sea  or  seen  on  the  land  side, 
with  its  ivy  covered  and  turreted  walls.  He  married 
twice  :  first  with  Diana  Kemeys  of  Dublin,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons,  John  and  James,  the  elder  of  whom 
he  designed  for  the  bar  and  the  younger  for  the 
Church.  His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Heaton 
(wrongly  named  Lucy  in  Carlisle's  genealogy)  of 
Mount  Heaton,  and  by  her  he  had  three  sons  and  three 
daughters,  the  eldest  son  of  this  family  being  named 


26     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Francis  and  the  second  Nathaniel,  the  daughters  being 
again  Lucy,  Hester  and  Dorothy. 

Though  Nathaniel  the  elder  had  most  generously 
fulfilled  all  the  hopes  which  his  parents  had  enter- 
tained concerning  him,  he  was  not  to  be  so  happy  in 
his  own  children ;  yet  at  first  he  had  great  pleasure  in 
his  eldest  son  John,  of  whose  early  life  I  must  give  a 
slight  sketch,  because  it  has  often  been  confused  with 
that  of  his  young  half-brother  Francis,  as  in  Actors  of 
the  Century,  by  Frederick  Whyte;  because  his  doings 
had  a  distinct  influence  on  Dorothy's  father  and 
because  from  time  to  time  his  name  reappears  in  this 
story. 

John  Bland  inherited  all  his  father's  quickness  and 
cleverness,  but  this  was  accompanied  by  too  great  a 
versatility,  too  much  good  humour,  and  a  love  of  life 
too  widely  spread.  Destined  for  the  bar  he  was 
admitted  at  Lincoln's  Inn  early  in  1741,  but  in  March 
of  the  same  year  threw  up  his  profession  and 
entered  the  army,  his  enthusiasm  being  such  that, 
though  nearly  twenty  years  old,  he  became  cornet  in 
Eland's  Regiment  of  Dragoons,  commanded  by  his 
kinsman,  General  Humphry  Bland.  He  carried  the 
colours  in  the  battle  of  Dettingen  and  fought  at 
Fontenoy,  being  taken  prisoner.  On  his  escape  he 
joined,  under  General  Honeywood,  in  the  suppression 
of  the  Scottish  Rebellion  of  1745  at  Clifton  Moor. 

While  in  Scotland,  or  perhaps  earlier,  Bland  became 
friendly  with  a  young  man  known  as  West  Digges, 
supposed  to  be  the  illegitimate  son  of  John  West,  Earl 
de  la  Warr,  who  was  stationed  there  with  his  regiment. 
Digges  later  left  the  army,  probably  because  of  an 
accumulation  of  debt,  and  in  1749  appeared  in  Sheri- 


Dorothy's  Family  27 

dan's  company  on  the  Dublin  stage.  Here  the  young 
men  may  have  met  again,  in  any  case  John  Bland 
suddenly  took  to  the  stage,  and  West  Digges  was 
regarded  as  the  tempter. 

This  was  a  terrific  blow  to  Dr.  Bland,  one  which 
not  only  injured  his  pride,  but  overturned  all  the  hopes 
he  had  entertained  of  his  brilliant  but  erratic  son. 
Could  it  be  possible  that  a  brave  soldier,  a  clever 
lawyer,  the  heir  to  Derryquin  Castle  and  its  lands, 
above  all,  the  son  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Bland,  one  of  the 
most  considerable  men  in  Dublin,  could  stoop  so  low 
as  to  strut  and  prance  upon  the  boards  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  public  ?  Was  it  thinkable  that  such  could 
become  a  strolling  player,  a  mere  vagabond  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law? 

Whatever  arguments  or  entreaties  were  used,  John 
stuck  to  his  point,  and  actually  had  the  temerity  to 
appear  on  the  stage  as  Polydore  in  The  Orphan  at 
Covent  Garden  on  the  i7th  of  October,  1751.  He 
was  not  a  success,  though  he  certainly  had  no  fair 
trial,  for  Carlisle  l  said  that  "  he  was  hissed  off  by  the 
merited  indignation  of  his  father's  friends." 

Then  the  deepest  penalty  of  the  family  anger  was 
inflicted :  banishment  from  his  father's  house,  loss 
of  his  allowance,  total  disinheritance,  for  Derryquin 
Castle  was  not  entailed;  and — greatest  vengeance  of 
all — his  very  name  was  erased  from  all  further  editions 
of  Burke's  Landed  Gentry.  Carlisle  mentions  and 
gives  some  particulars  of  him,  but  even  he  does  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  state  whether  he  married  or  had 
children. 

1  Collections  for  the  History  of  the    Ancient  Family  of  Bland,  by 
Nicholas  Carlisle. 


28     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Yet  he  did  marry,  though  it  is  not  known  when  or 
whom,  but  he  called  his  wife  Nancy,  and  she  either 
was  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  an  actress  or  became 
one  later.  John  Bland  had  several  children,  and 
through  these  sons  and  daughters  he  was  progenitor 
of  an  army  of  actors,  musicians  and  composers  (such 
as  William  Howard  Glover)  and  soldiers.  Many  of 
the  latter — among  them  the  Angelos — served  with  dis- 
tinction in  India;  while  the  Indian  Mutiny,  the  Afghan 
War  and  the  South  African  War  each  claimed  toll  of 
his  blood.  In  face  of  this  what  a  childish  act  it  was 
to  erase  his  name  from  a  printed  book ! 

But  Dr.  Nathaniel  Bland  resolutely  shut  his  son 
John  out  of  his  life,  and  bequeathed  Derryquin  Castle 
to  his  second  son,  James  the  clergyman  :  his  resent- 
ment and  anger  being,  one  would  think,  sufficient  to 
frighten  his  other  sons  from  ever  even  remembering 
that  there  was  any  charm  about  the  stage.  Yet  this 
was  not  so,  for  his  third  son  Francis  followed  his 
step-brother  John's  example. 

However,  there  was  a  difference  in  procedure. 
Francis  did  not  hurry  to  disport  himself  before  the 
public,  he  began  by  frequenting  the  theatre  and 
watching  pretty  Grace  Philipps  every  night. 

The  various  biographers  place  the  meeting  between 
Grace  and  Francis  in  Wales,  but  the  former  left  that 
country  in  1756,  and  the  love  affair  did  not  develop 
to  any  purpose  until  two  years  later,  when  Francis 
Bland  was  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years  of  age. 

By  that  date  the  two  young  people  had  fallen  hope- 
lessly in  love,  so  hopelessly  that  Francis  forgot  his 
filial  duty,  forgot  the  fate  of  his  brother,  and  forgot 
the  havoc  he  might  work  in  his  family.  Then  it  was 


Dorothy's  Family  29 

given  out  among  the  theatrical  people  that  these  two 
lovers  were  married,  and  Grace  became  known  as 
Mrs.  Francis,  not  as  Mrs.  Bland. 

Francis  Bland  was  a  tall,  good-looking  man, 
pleasant  and  kindly  in  manner,  but  never  regarded 
as  clever.  One  biographer  lamented  that  he  was  not 
endowed  with  mental  as  well  as  personal  attractions, 
for  though  his  appearance  was  "  stately  and  comely," 
his  mind  was  "  corrupt  and  depraved."  But  Francis 
Eland's  portrait 1  does  not  bear  this  out,  and  we  must 
judge  the  writer  to  be  prejudiced  by  his  sympathy  for 
Grace. 

Much  as  I  should  like  to  prove  that  Francis  and 
Grace  were  man  and  wife  by  law  as  well  as  by  natural 
fact,  it  is  beyond  my  powers.  There  is  no  legal  proof 
anywhere  of  the  marriage  or  of  its  annulment,  and  if 
there  had  been  proof  would  Grace  Bland  not  have 
made  a  fight  for  the  recognition  of  her  children  when 
their  father  died? 

It  was  in  1758  that  the  union  took  place,  and  in 
1759,  when  two  of  the  Philipps  sisters  seem  to  have 
been  absent  from  Dublin,  Grace's  first  child  was  born, 
receiving  the  name  of  Hester;  who  seemingly  grew  to 
resemble  her  father  both  in  good  looks  and  in  an 
inability  to  make  her  own  way  in  the  world. 

That  Judge  Bland  found  out  the  whole  affair  is 
evident,  that  he  was  very  angry  is  also  certain,  but  as 
Francis  had  not  committed  the  final  sin  of  making  his 
marriage  legal  there  was  some  palliation.  Yet  the 
rupture  was  bitter  between  father  and  son,  and  neither 
would  give  way.  Francis  is  said  to  have  lost  his 
allowance,  and  in  consequence  to  have  taken  to  the 

1  Unfortunately  the  miniature  could  not  satisfactorily  be  reproduced. 


30     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

stage,  and  by  so  doing  he  put  the  seal  on  his  father's 
anger.  Then  in  October  1760  the  Judge  died  at 
Currens,  his  will  being  proved  on  the  24th  of  that 
month. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  sorry  for  this  proud  man 
who  had  won  success  for  himself,  and  yet  had  found 
such  bitter  disappointment  in  his  two  sons;  it  may 
even  be  that  the  trouble  with  Francis  accelerated  his 
end,  for  he  was  not  turned  sixty  when  he  died. 

Through  the  spring  and  autumn  of  1760  two  of  the 
Philipps  sisters  were  acting  at  Smock  Alley  Theatre, 
but  in  October — as  Hitchcock  says — "  the  two  Miss 
Philipps,  with  several  of  less  note,  returned  to 
England." 

What  would  have  been  the  natural  thing  for  Francis 
Bland  to  have  done  in  these  circumstances?  He 
was  banished  from  his  mother's  home  and  execrated 
by  his  family;  he  may  have  been  without  the  means 
of  earning  his  living,  though  this  is  a  disputed  point, 
and  he  had  a  wife  and  child  to  claim  his  attention. 
It  is  impossible  to  judge  otherwise  than  that  he 
accompanied  Grace  to  England,  and  definitely  threw 
in  his  lot  with  hers. 


CHAPTER   II 

DOROTHY'S  PARENTS 

"  Oh,  what  a  simpleton  am  I 

To  make  my  bed  at  such  a  rate  ! 
Now  lay  me  down,  vain  fool,  and  cry, 
The  true  love  seeks  another  mate. 
No  tears,  alack, 
Will  call  him  back, 
No  tender  words  his  heart  allure; 
I  could  bite 

My  tongue,  through  spite, 
Some  plague  bewitched  me,  that's  for  sure." 

Sung  by  Dorothy  Bland  in  Dublin. 

IT  is  very  possible  that  in  London,  that  Mecca  of 
the  distressed,  Francis  knew  that  he  should  find  his 
brother  John,  to  whom  he  would  now  be  doubly  drawn 
by  his  similarity  of  fortune,  and  he  might  even  have 
chosen  his  home  that  he  might  be  near  him.  For 
John  Bland  was  in  London  at  this  time,  and  a  little 
later  was  living  with  West  Digges  in  St.  James's 
Sanctuary,  which  was  probably  the  remnant  of  some 
street  near  the  palace  which  in  early  times  had  served 
as  a  real  sanctuary. 

Francis  and  Grace  seem  to  have  settled  down  in 
St.  Martin's  parish,  near  the  theatres,  for  there  the 
second  child  was  born,  and  there  I  found  proofs  of  its 
birth.  In  the  register  of  the  Church  of  St.  Martin's- 
in-the-Fields  is  this  crisp  line — 

Dec.  5,  1761.  [Baptized]  Dorothy  Bland,  [daughter] 
of  Francis  and  Grace  [Bland,  born]  Nov.  22. 

Thus  the  doubt  about  the  date  of  Mrs.  Jordan's 

3' 


32     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

birth  is  settled.  It  was  in  1761,  a  year  earlier  than  all 
the  accounts  allow,  and  several  years  earlier  than  some 
give.  Her  name  is  also  proved  to  have  been  neither 
Dorothea  nor  Dora,  but  Dorothy,  though  she  used 
both  the  former  names  in  signing  letters. 

There  were  two  other  entries  in  the  same  year's 
register,  which  might  have  been  mere  coincidences, 
and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  might  supply  evidence 
could  the  links  be  traced.  One  ran  as  follows — 

Nov.  12,  1761.  [Baptized]  John  Bland  [son]  of 
John  and  Mary  [Bland,  born]  Oct.  26. 

Now  John  Bland,  who  probably  did  not  marry  until 
he  took  to  the  stage  (that  is,  after  1749),  had  a  son 
John,  and  this  entry  may  indicate  the  birth  of  that 
son.  But  he  called  his  wife  Nancy,  and  as  Nancy 
she  was  named  in  the  notices  of  his  death  in  1808. 
However,  Nancy  may  have  been  a  pet  name,  and  the 
two  babies  may  have  been  cousins  born  within  a  month 
of  each  other,  or  they  may  have  been  the  most  distant 
and  unknown  relatives  who  never  met. 

The  third  entry  belongs  to  a  later  period  in  the 
story. 

Here  in  London  the  young  people  already  had  a 
circle  of  friends  in  John  Bland  and  his  family,  West 
Digges,  Grace's  sister,  and  to  these  may  be  added 
Francis  Lumm,  the  son  of  Francis  Eland's  aunt,  who 
was  always  an  affectionate  friend  to  his  cousin. 

Except  for  the  recurring  births  of  children,  there 
is  little  by  which  to  trace  the  Blands  during  the  next 
few  years,  and  even  concerning  these  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  in  what  order  the  children  arrived.  A  girl 
named  Lucy  was  born  in  1 764,  and  died  at  the  age  of 


Dorothy's  Parents  33 

fourteen,  being  buried  at  Trelethyn.  A  boy  named 
Nathaniel  was  born  in  1767;  other  members  who  have 
been  traced  are  Francis  and  George,  and,  in  a  shadowy 
way,  another  girl.  Thus  six  or  seven  children  born 
to  Francis  and  Grace  Bland  are  identified.  Nathaniel 
was  described  in  his  college  list  as  son  of  Francis 
Bland  of  St.  Oswald's,  Chester  (City),  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  he  was  born  there,  as  Chester  was  a  usual 
halting-place  between  Dublin  and  London. 

Whether  Francis  Bland  was  a  captain  in  the  army 
is  difficult  to  determine.  His  portrait,  taken  from  a 
miniature,  looks  more  like  that  of  a  genial  actor;  but, 
as  he  is  wearing  a  green  uniform  with  yellow  froggings, 
he  may  have  been  a  soldier.  The  Morning  Chronicle 
of  October  27,  1788,  reported  him  as  having  com- 
manded a  company  on  the  Irish  establishment  "  while 
he  lived,"  implying  that  he  remained  in  command 
until  his  death;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  went  on 
half  pay  and  adopted  his  wife's  profession.  The 
Blands  seem  not  to  have  lived  in  Wales,  as  reported 
by  the  Elixir  of  Life,  for  in  a  private  letter  from  a 
member  of  the  family  is  the  following  statement — 

"  During  a  rebellion  in  Ireland  Mrs.  Bland  brought 
her  children  to  St.  Davids  and  resided  here  for  a  while, 
her  husband  going  to  the  south  of  France  to  his  father. 
When  he  returned  she  joined  him,  leaving  Lucy  (her 
little  daughter)  with  her  sister  (Mrs.  Williams)." 
Francis's  father  had,  however,  long  been  dead,  and 
the  journey  to  France  must  have  been  in  search  of 
health.  His  illness  would  have  been  sufficient  reason 
for  a  reconciliation  with  his  mother,  and  he  may  have 
gone  from  France  to  his  old  home,  where  he  may 
have  met  the  rich  Catherine  Mahoney,  who  fell  in  love 
c 


34     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

with  him,  for  she  lived  at  Killarney.  That  he  came 
back  restored  to  health  seems  probable,  for  his  friend- 
ship with  Miss  Mahoney  ended  in  their  marriage  on 
May  17,  1774,  not  at  Killarney  but  at  St.  Botolph's 
Without,  Aldgate.  Thus,  when  Grace  left  St.  Davids 
to  rejoin  her  husband,  as  her  relatives  thought,  she 
may  have  met  him  only  to  separate  for  ever,  and  to 
face  a  life  of  hardship  and  poverty,  with  some  of 
her  children  on  her  hands.  That  the  Welsh  records 
entirely  ignore  some  of  her  children,  while  other 
accounts  ignore  others,  seems  to  prove  that  from  the 
first  Francis  Bland  made  himself  responsible  for 
some,  while  some  were  left  to  their  mother's  care. 

As  for  Francis,  his  health  soon  failed  again,  and  if 
this  failure  was,  as  Boaden  asserts,  caused  by  remorse 
for  his  irrevocable  treachery,  it  shows  that  something 
good  still  lived  in  his  soul.  Once  again  he  started  for 
France,  but  he  only  got  as  far  as  Dover  when  death 
seized  him.  His  cousin  Sir  Francis  Lumm,  then 
.Governor  of  Ross  Castle,  had  his  body  taken  home  to 
Killarney  for  burial,  and  put  up  a  slab  to  his  memory 
in  the  church  there,  the  inscription  upon  it  being — 

"  To  the  memory  of  a  once  much  loved  and  much 
lamented  friend,  Francis  Bland,  Esq.,  on  whose  kind 
heart,  in  his  forty-third  year,  at  Dover,  on  the  second 
day  of  January,  1778,  the  curtain  of  this  world's  stage 
untimely  dropped,  this  stone  is  placed  by  Sir  F.  L.,  Bt." 

Francis  left  by  Catherine  two  children,  a  son  Francis 
— his  second  of  that  name  and  both  living — and  a 
daughter  Frances.  Was  it  lack  of  heart  or  want  of 
firmness  that  made  him  call  Catherine's  boy  by  the 
name  of  Grace's  son  ? 


Dorothy's  Parents  35 

There  is  nothing  but  mere  assertion  to  show  that 
Grace  and  Francis  were  safely  married  by  a  Catholic 
priest,  or  that  that  marriage  was  annulled ;  and  indeed 
Judge  Bland  could  not  have  procured  the  annulment, 
as  he  died  in  1760,  when  only  one  child,  Hester,  had 
been  born,  and  before  the  birth  of  five  or  six  other 
children.  In  addition  to  this,  Francis  was  not  under 
age  when  the  marriage  is  said  to  have  taken  place. 

After  Francis  Eland's  death  administration  was 
granted  to  his  wife  Catherine,  who  swore  to  the  place 
and  date  of  their  marriage,  adding  that  "  both  were 
free  from  all  marriages  or  matrimonial  contracts  what- 
soever save  to  each  other."  Of  course  this  proves 
nothing;  Catherine  may  not  have  known  of  a  former 
legal  marriage,  and,  if  she  did  and  yet  married  him 
herself,  she  would  have  lied  rather  than  tell  the  fact. 

But  the  matter  that  seems  to  offer  conclusive  evi- 
dence is  that  if  there  had  been  a  marriage  Grace  Bland 
would  have  fought  for  her  children's  position  in  the 
world.  As  a  matter  of  fact  she  did  make  an  effort, 
for  a  "pretended  claim"  was  put  in  either  by  or  for 
Nathaniel  Bland.  As  the  boy  was  then  only  eleven 
years  old,  the  claim  must  have  been  made  for  him 
by  "  his  next  friend,"  as  the  legal  phrase  goes,  perhaps 
his  mother.  This  claim  was  disallowed,  probably 
because  the  widow  pleaded  his  illegitimacy,  as  she 
would  have  been  sure  to  do. 

Grace's  sojourn  in  Wales  may  have  synchronized 
with  the  period  when  Francis  was  married  to  Catherine 
Mahoney,  but,  if  so,  she  and  her  relatives  kept  his 
treachery  secret,  for  the  succeeding  generation  did  not 
know  all  the  incidents.  Then,  on  hearing  of  Francis's 
death,  she  may  have  returned  to  Dublin  with  some  of 


36     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

her  children,  the  two  eldest  girls  and  Nathaniel,  and 
put  in  this  claim  on  behalf  of  her  son.  The  material 
consequences  of  her  loss  must  have  fallen  upon  her 
now,  for  the  mental  anguish  of  her  husband's  defection 
had  long  been  deadened.  While  he  lived  he  had 
provided  for  that  large  family  which  had  been  banished 
from  his  life,  but  his  care  of  them  could  not  extend 
beyond  his  death,  for  the  money  was  Catherine's,  and 
not  his,  and  she  turned  her  back  utterly  upon  her 
husband's  first  family.  However,  other  relatives, 
perhaps  his  mother  or  his  half-brother  James,  were 
induced — it  has  been  said — to  afford  some  relief  to 
the  offspring,  while  totally  abandoning  "  the  wretched 
mother  to  her  fate."  Not  that  the  "  wretched  mother  " 
had  any  intention  of  being  abandoned  to  any  fate,  for 
though  she  was  not  like  the  fox,  who  had  a  hundred 
ways  of  eluding  the  dogs  of  sport  and  death,  she  some- 
what shared  the  quality  of  the  cat  who  knew  at  least 
one  safe  way.  She  had  acted  on  the  stage  with 
success,  and  she  had  a  daughter  Hester  in  the  first 
bloom  of  womanhood,  handsome  and  accomplished, 
able  to  dance,  play,  and  speak  French — who  had,  in 
fact,  been  more  or  less  prepared  for  a  theatrical  career. 
Grace  was  probably  training  this  girl  for  the  stage 
during  those  years  of  loneliness,  and  if  she  went  back 
to  Ireland  early  in  1778,  she  did  not  there  remain  help- 
less or  idle.  She  made,  or  caused  to  be  made,  the 
claim  on  behalf  of  her  son;  she  must  have  worried  the 
Bland  family  by  her  demands,  and  she  seems  promptly 
to  have  put  her  two  daughters  to  work  in  a  milliner's 
shop  in  Dame  Street.  One  theatrical  chronicle  says 
that  they  were  working  there  in  1776,  another  puts  it 
later,  others  ignore  it  altogether.  Indeed,  among  all 


Dorothy's  Parents  37 

the  accounts  of  Dorothy's  life,  when  as  a  girl  of 
eighteen  she  first  went  on  the  stage,  it  is  difficult  to 
find  the  true  one,  so  contradictory  are  they.  The 
certain  thing  is  that  Grace  was  not  in  Wales  in  1778, 
for  it  was  then,  on  May  4,  that  her  daughter  Lucy,  a 
girl  of  fourteen,  died  at  Trelethyn,  just  four  months 
after  her  father's  death.  Mrs.  Williams,  thus  left 
without  a  child  in  her  house,  adopted  Nathaniel  as  her 
son,  sending  to  Ireland  for  him.  Where  some  of  Mrs. 
Eland's  children  were  placed  cannot  be  said,  but  she 
evidently  then  caused  another  son  to  come  to  share  her 
lot,  as  she  had  a  boy  with  her  in  1782,  who  must  have 
been  George,  for  he  had  a  good  voice  and  was  one  of 
the  choir  boys  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  In  later 
years  one  of  George's  qualifications  for  the  stage  was 
his  ability  for  taking  part  in  opera. 

There  must  have  been  something  too  repressive  in 
Judge  Eland's  training  of  his  sons,  as  his  fourth  boy- 
Nathaniel  (each  generation  included  this  name),  next 
brother  to  Francis,  also  kicked  over  the  traces,  and 
lived  away  from  home.  At  some  period  he  made  him- 
self responsible  for  his  dead  brother's  boy  Francis, 
perhaps  sending  him  to  school  from  the  first. 

One  of  the  most  romantic  accounts  of  Dorothy's 
introduction  upon  the  stage  is  given  by  Joseph  Dowling, 
who,  more  than  fifty  years  later,  published  his  reminis- 
cences under  the  name  of  J.  D.  Herbert,  giving  them 
the  title  of  Irish  Varieties  for  the  Last  Fifty  Years. 
There  were  many  mistakes  in  this  story,  and  probably 
the  old  man's  memory  played  tricks,  softening  here, 
embroidering  there,  but  some  basis  of  truth  there 
must  have  been. 

Herbert  says  that,  on  returning  from  a  bathe  one  fine 


38     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

summer's  day  in  1780,  he  was  accosted  on  the  Pigeon 
House  Wall  by  a  lad  of  about  fourteen,  who  carried 
a  handkerchief  bundle,  and  who  told  him  that  he  had 
just  landed  from  Wales  with  his  mother  and  two 
sisters,  they  being  strangers  to  Dublin;  he  then  drew 
Herbert  towards  the  ladies,  whom  he  found  handsome 
and  interesting,  and  who  told  him  that  they  wanted 
comfortable  but  not  expensive  lodgings.  The  upshot 
was  that  they  walked  into  Dublin  together,  and 
Herbert  found  them  lodgings  in  South  Great  George 
Street,  three  doors  away  from  where  he  himself  lived, 
making  good  terms  for  them. 

Grace  Bland  told  the  boy  that  her  name  was  Francis, 
that  she  had  been  an  actress,  but  had  married  a 
captain  in  the  army  who  was  on  half-pay,  and  that  her 
husband  had  died  in  Wales,  where  they  had  lived  for 
economy's  sake ;  and  that  now,  having  cut  herself  adrift 
from  the  stage,  she  could  not  support  herself  and  her 
children  on  the  allowance  made  to  a  captain's  widow, 
and  so  was  obliged  once  more  to  turn  to  acting. 

The  family  of  four  settled  down  in  South  Great 
George  Street,  and  Mrs.  Francis  being  furnished  with 
a  letter  of  introduction  to  Ryder,  the  manager  of 
Crow  Street  Theatre,  waited  to  hear  from  him.  The 
name  of  "  Grace  Philipps "  alone  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  cause  Ryder  to  give  her  an  interview,  for 
they  had  acted  together  twenty  years  earlier,  but  that 
was  probably  her  way  of  explaining  the  matter.  He 
came,  saw  Hester,  the  elder  girl,  found  her  able  to 
play,  sing  and  do  other  theatre  tricks,  and  engaged  her, 
hoping  that  he  had  found  a  treasure.  Then  he  billed 
her  well  and  waited  for  the  fateful  night  to  arrive. 
The  house  was  filled  with  a  cheerful  audience  ready  to 


Dorothy's  Parents  39 

see  and  encourage  a  new  and  pretty  actress,  but  to 
every  one's  horror,  most  of  all  to  her  own,  poor  Miss 
Francis  was  afflicted  with  such  an  acute  attack  of  stage 
fright  that  she  could  not  utter  a  word.  No  happy  flash 
of  memory  or  confidence  came  to  her  assistance,  and 
she  had  to  be  led  off  the  stage  by  the  chagrined 
manager,  while  some  one  else  took  her  place.  Young 
Herbert,  then  only  a  boy,  was  present  next  morning 
when  Ryder  went  to  see  Mrs.  Bland,  and,  finding  her 
crying,  told  her  that  she  should  have  a  part  at  the 
salary  he  had  offered  her  daughter,  and  that  if  she 
would  for  a  time  go  into  the  country  towns  to  get  once 
more  accustomed  to  the  boards,  he  would  try  the 
second  girl  Dorothy  in  place  of  her  sister. 

"  Oh !  "  replied  the  mother,  "  Dolly  would  be  no 
use  at  acting,  she  is  but  a  tomboy;  it  was  only  just 
before  you  came  in  that  she  was  jumping  downstairs, 
and  boasting  that  she  could  jump  one  step  more  than 
either  of  the  boys  dared  attempt.  Then,  too,  she  is 
so  untidy — why,  even  her  stockings  are  down  to  her 
heels." 

"  But,  my  dear  madam,  she  will  mend ;  she  will  grow 
older,"  interposed  Ryder. 

'  Yes,  but  see  how  plain  she  is,  with  smallpox 
spoiling  her  skin." 

'  The  stage  will  hide  such  trifling  blemishes,"  was 
the  optimistic  retort. 

Dolly  had  been  sent  out  of  the  room  to  make  herself 
tidy,  and  at  this  minute  she  came  back,  looking  quite 
neat  and  smart.  Ryder,  gazing  well  into  her  face, 
said,  with  a  laugh — 

"  Smallpox,  aye,  and  very  small  too  !  Here,  Dolly, 
get  up  the  part  of  Phoebe  in  As  You  Like  It" 


Dolly  was  neither  bashful  nor  bold ;  she  was  indeed 
thoughtless  enough  and  high-spirited  enough  to  do  a 
thing  without  troubling  about  responsibilities  or  conse- 
quences; so  she  got  up  the  part  and  went  through  it 
in  public  with  the  happy  carelessness  of  a  schoolboy, 
whatever  the  terrors  might  have  been  that  she  experi- 
enced at  the  first  sight  of  the  audience.  That  audience 
accepted  her  with  good  humour,  but  saw  no  occasion 
to  be  overwhelming  in  its  praise,  and  indeed  its  atten- 
tion was  more  likely  concentrated  upon  the  prominent 
actors.  However,  she  had  found  her  metier;  she  felt 
that  she  could  act,  and  she  studied  without  ceasing 
to  acquire  the  qualities  necessary  to  help  her  to 
success. 

The  'definite  assertions  in  this  story  are  fwrong. 
Thus  the  Elands  were  in  Dublin  long  before  1780; 
if  Hester  made  such  a  terrible  failure  on  her  introduc- 
tion, she  somewhat  retrieved  it,  for  she  was  acting  in 
that  year ;  then  there  is  no  trace  in  any  theatrical  record 
of  Grace  acting  anywhere,  and  Dorothy  did  not  begin 
her  stage  career  as  Phcebe.  Her  first  appearance  was 
in  The  Virgin  Unmasked,  on  the  3rd  of  November, 
I779.1  As  You  Like  It  was  put  on  later  in  November, 
and  Dorothy  may  have  taken  the  part  then,  but  it  was 
not  her  first  attempt.  The  first  playbill  now  existing 
which  includes  her  name  is  one  dated  May  20, 
1780,  when  The  Governess  was  acted  for  O'Keefe's 
benefit. 

At  that  time  Ryder  was  at  his  wit's  end  to  provide 
variety  and  draw  an  audience,  so  in  this  play  he  hit 
on  the  plan  of  a  topsy-turvy  cast — men  taking  women's 

1  Mr.  W.  J.  Lawrence,  who  is  one  of  our  first  authorities  upon  the 
British  stage. 


Dorothy's  Parents  41 

parts  and  vice  versa — Dorothy  being  allotted  the 
prominent  character  of  Lopez,  and  gaining  great 
applause  for  her  symmetrical  figure  and  beautiful  legs. 
Before  she  had  been  acting  long  she  persuaded  Ryder 
to  let  her  introduce  a  song,  and  this  brought  her  into 
especial  favour.  Her  voice  was  not  highly  trained 
and  did  not  go  well  with  accompaniment;  but  it  was 
so  sweet,  and  she  had  already  so  mastered  the  art  of 
throwing  her  emotions  into  her  tones,  that  a  song 
from  her  would  often  have  to  be  repeated  twice  to  a 
delighted  audience.  Her  first  and  one  of  her  most 
famous  songs  was  that  of  "  Melton  Oysters,"  which 
was  especially  popular  in  Dublin,  as  its  title  was 
deemed  to  be  "  Miltown  Oysters  " — Miltown  being  a 
suburb  of  Dublin,  near  Donnybrook  Fair,  a  spot 
historic  as  a  recreation  and  sporting  resort,  where 
refreshments  of  all  sorts,  from  goat's  milk  to  whisky, 
and  from  buns  to  oysters  might  be  obtained  by  the 
holiday-making  people.  This  song  she  persuaded 
Ryder  to  let  her  introduce,  and  however  dubious  was 
his  consent,  the  result  was  extremely  pleasing  to  him. 
Its  first  verse  ran — 

"  There  was  a  clever,  likely  lass, 

Just  come  to  town  from  Glos'ter, 
And  she  did  get  her  livelihood 
By  crying  Melton  Oysters." 

The  one  farcical  comedy  part  which  Dolly  essayed 
in  Ireland  was  Miss  Tomboy  in  The  Romp,  the  only 
hoyden  character  which  she  acted  at  that  early  stage 
of  her  career,  for  the  value  of  those  plays  had  not  yet 
become  apparent,  the  audience  even  then  considering 
tragedy  more  enjoyable  than  farce. 

Another  thing  that  the  girl  did  particularly  well  was 


42     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

speaking  the  prologue  and  epilogue,  which  have  long 
been  discarded  from  our  evening's  amusement  at  the 
theatre;  so  a  special  prologue  was  written  for  her  in 
the  character  of  an  Irish  Volunteer,  for  which  she  had 
to  wear  the  soldier's  uniform  and  strut  about  the  stage 
with  martial  weapons — a  proceeding  which  drew  shouts 
of  applause  from  the  young  folks  of  Dublin. 

But  Ryder  at  that  time  was  fast  going  downhill,  and 
his  actors  were  not  always  paid,  so  Dolly  and  her 
family  sometimes  "  experienced  the  severest  effects 
of  poverty";  and  according  to  Walker's  Hibernian 
Magazine  for  August  1792,  "Prudence  obliged  Mrs. 
Francis  to  forsake  the  Crow  Street  standard  "  and  go 
over  to  Smock  Alley,  where  she  got  an  engagement 
from  its  new  manager  Daly,  and  though  the  salary 
was  low,  yet  it  was  punctually  paid,  which  at  least 
allowed  them  to  live. 

Dorothy  made  a  great  impression  upon  some  people 
while  in  Ireland;  one  of  whom  was  Betsy  Sheridan, 
later  Mrs.  Lefanu.  One  night  she  took  a  Mr.  Cham- 
berlayne  to  the  theatre,  and,  pointing  to  Dorothy, 
said — 

'  That  little  girl,  if  she  lives,  will  be  some  time  or 
other  the  first  comic  actress  in  England  or  Ireland. 
She  is  a  Miss  Francis.  She  has  not  been  long  on 
the  stage,  but  for  chastity  of  acting,  naivete,  and  being 
the  character  she  represents,  young  as  she  is,  she 
surpasses  what  could  have  been  expected;  but  mark 
my  words,  she  will  one  day  or  other  be  a  favourite 
and  the  first  in  her  line  of  acting." 

Mr.  Chamberlayne  wrote  down  these  words  and 
sealed  them  in  an  envelope,  which  eventually  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Editor  of  the  Gentleman's 


Dorothy's  Parents  43 

Magazine.    The  envelope  was  not  opened  until  1822, 
and  its  contents  were  published  in  June  1824. 

It  is  open  to  doubt  whether  there  was  any  time  in 
her  life  when  Dolly  Bland  was  serenely,  quietly  and 
safely  happy,  when  she  could  "  look  before  and  after  " 
and  see  happiness  both  ways.  Such  a  time  could  not 
have  come  to  her  in  Dublin,  and  it  certainly  was  not 
hers  in  the  next  stage  of  her  career.  Yet  it  may  be 
that  it  seemed  always  within  her  reach,  for  she  was 
not  given  to  retrospection  or  anticipation.  For  her, 
to-day  was  the  point  of  life,  and  if  all  were  well — or 
ill — to-day,  why  gloat  or  worry  over  past  or  future.  It 
was,  however,  a  good  thing  that  she  could  not  forecast 
events;  that  she  could  struggle  on  more  or  less  gaily 
and  not  ask  too  minutely  what  price  was  eventually 
to  be  paid  at  the  Dublin  theatre  for  the  best  woman's 
parts. 

One  curious  mistake  which  was  made  about  Dorothy 
was  by  a  young  soldier  named  Pryse  Lockhart 
Gordon,  one  which  he  crystallized  in  his  volume  of 
Personal  Memoirs  many  years  later,  and  which  has 
without  fail  been  copied  by  each  successive  biographer 
of  Dorothy  Bland. 

With  one  exception,  she  acted  in  Dublin  as  Miss 
Francis,  and  events  point  to  the  fact  that  the  Blands 
must  have  made  it  a  condition  of  their  assistance  that 
their  name  should  be  dropped.  Mr.  Gordon,  however, 
declares  that  when  he  was  stationed  in  Cork  in  1778 
"  Miss  Phillips  "  was  taken  there  by  Daly,  and  acted 
for  £i  a  week,  for  which  sum  her  father,  a  scene- 
shifter,  threw  in  his  services.  The  girl's  benefit  was 
a  failure,  and  the  group  of  young  men,  of  whom 
Gordon  was  one,  threatened  violence  until  the  manager 


44     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

promised  her  another  benefit  night,  which  was  well 
attended,  bringing  the  young  actress  £40. 

This  account  has  caused  one  of  the  "  mysteries  "  of 
Dorothy's  birth,  and,  as  has  been  said,  The  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  favours  this  statement  as  to 
the  low  origin  of  Dorothy's  father.  But  Pryse  Lock- 
hart  Gordon,  as  military  records  prove,  went  to  Cork 
in  1778,  and  left  Cork  for  foreign  service  in  1780; 
while  Dolly  Francis's  first  visit  to  that  city  was  in 
1781,  and  she  never  acted  anywhere  under  the  name 
of  Phillips.  Mr.  W.  J.  Lawrence,  in  his  interest 
concerning  the  stage,  made  special  investigations  into 
this  matter,  and  he  discovered  that  there  was  a  Miss 
Phillips  acting  in  Cork  in  the  year  1778  whose  father 
was  at  the  time  a  scene-shifter,  but  who  had  no  con- 
nection with  our  heroine.  This  Miss  Phillips  was  two 
years  younger  than  Dorothy,  and  gained  great  renown 
later  as  Mrs.  Crouch,  acting  at  Drury  Lane,  and  not 
only  becoming  a  bitter  rival  to  our  heroine,  but  at 
times  causing  her  much  unhappiness. 

Herbert  unconsciously  gives  evidence  of  Dorothy's 
being  in  Cork  in  1781,  for  he  tells  that  when  visiting 
some  friends  there  the  next  year  he  heard  a  little 
musical  prodigy  singing  a  song  about  her  love  for 
Ti-co-thy,  and,  on  asking  how  she  had  learnt  it,  was 
told  that  a  lady  named  Francis,  who  had  been  acting 
there  the  previous  summer,  had  taught  it  to  the  child. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  at  last  the  lie  has  been  over- 
taken, but  one  never  knows;  a  romantic  lie  is  dear  to 
the  imagination,  and  is  not  given  up  without  a  pang. 

Another  incident,  and  one  of  a  tender  nature,  took 
place  also  at  this  time,  it  being  twisted  somewhat  out 
of  shape  by  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  in  his  account  of 


Dorothy's  Parents  45 

Dorothy's  Dublin  career,  and  this  was  her  first  serious 
offer  of  marriage. 

A  certain  young  soldier  named  Charles  Powlett 
Doyne,  son  of  the  Dean  of  Leighlin,  who  was  cornet 
in  the  2nd  Regiment  of  Horse  in  Dublin,  fell  in  love 
with  the  attractive  young  actress  at  first  sight,  and  felt 
that  the  only  happiness  in  the  world  for  him  was  to 
make  her  his  wife.  So  he  took  counsel  with  his 
friends,  of  whom  Harrington  was  one,  and  as  these 
friends  were  also  very  young,  they  advised  him  to  go 
in  and  win.  But  the  courageous  cornet  found  that 
there  were  other  people  to  consider  besides  Dorothy 
and  himself,  and  that  Mrs.  Bland  was  adamant  to  him 
and  his  desires.  She  rightly  saw  that  Doyne  could 
not  support  a  wife,  his  commission  was  of  the  smallest 
and  his  private  fortune  was  little  larger;  she  also  had 
no  desire  to  be  bereft  of  her  chief  means  of  support, 
so  however  much  Dorothy  liked  the  young  man,  she 
was  induced  to  give  him  up. 

The  queer  thing  is  that  Barrington,  who  was  on  the 
scene,  gives  his  friend  wrong  rank,  wrong  regiment 
and  wrong  Locale,  saying  that  he  was  a  lieutenant  of 
the  3rd  Heavy  Horse  stationed  at  Waterford,  and 
to  this  adds  the  slighting  inference  that  he  was  ugly. 
The  facts  being  that  Doyne  met,  loved  and  lost  Dolly 
in  1780  while  he  was  a  cornet  stationed  in  Dublin; 
that  he  never  was  stationed  in  Waterford,  though  two 
years  after  Dorothy  had  left  Ireland  he  was  at 
Clonmel,  which  is  very  near.  His  lieutenancy  was 
gained  in  June  1781,  some  months  after  he  had  left 
Dublin  in  a  very  inconsolable  frame  of  mind.  How- 
ever, in  1785  he  married  a  Miss  Vicars,  who  was  an 
heiress,  and  a  year  later  he  left  the  army. 


CHAPTER    III 

THAT    RUFFIAN    DALY 

"  Her  face,  if  not  exactly  beautiful,  was  irresistibly  agreeable ;  her 
person  and  gait  were  eminently  elastic  ;  her  voice  in  singing  perfectly 
sweet  and  melodious,  and  in  speaking  clear  and  impressive." — JOHN 
ADOLPHUS  on  Mrs.  Jordan. 

"  His  feathers,  which  in  beauty  vied 
With  all  the  peacock's  glittering  pride, 
Were  trimmed  with  artfulness  and  care 
T'attract  the  notice  of  the  fair. 

PETER  PINDAR,  Jun. 

IN  Ryder's  company  at  Crow  Street  was  a  man 
named  Richard  Daly,  who  by  some  was  described  as 
better  as  business  man  than  as  actor.  Herbert  says  of 
him  that  he  had  a  good  memory,  a  good  person,  a  good 
wardrobe  and  good  parts  to  play,  which  were  the 
entire  constitution  of  his  good  acting;  and  in  Roscius, 
a  short-lived  paper,  it  was  declared  that  his  acting 
was  slovenly.  When  he  first  played  for  Ryder  it  was 
with  a  Mrs.  Lyster,  once  Miss  Barsanti,  who  was 
fortunate  enough  to  have  money;  she  also  could  earn 
money,  and  the  combination  of  possessions  and  talent 
was  too  much  for  Richard  Daly,  so  Mrs.  Lyster 
became  his  wife. 

This  man  was  in  one  respect  Irish  of  the  Irish,  for 
he  loved  a  fight;  in  another  he  was  alien  to  his  race, 
as  the  Irish  are  renowned  for  their  care  for  the  honour 
of  their  women.  He,  however,  was  an  extreme  sen- 
sualist, and  allowed  nothing  to  stand  in  the  way  of 
his  desires;  thus  as  manager  he  became  a  byword  in 
Dublin  for  his  baseness  and  cruelty  to  young  actresses. 

46 


That  Ruffian  Daly  47 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Fire-eaters'  Club,  and 
prided  himself  on  his  bravery  and  his  dexterity  with 
sword  and  pistol ;  his  number  of  duels  being  put  down 
as  sixteen  in  two  years,  three  with  swords  and  thirteen 
with  pistols.  It  was  a  pistol  duel  that  he  fought  with 
Jonah  Harrington,  who  affirmed  that  he  had  never 
spoken  to  Daly,  had  scarcely  ever  spoken  of  him,  and 
never  knew  why  the  challenge  was  sent. 

Harrington  and  his  second,  known  as  "  Balloon " 
Crosby,  because  he  had  constructed  the  first  balloon 
ever  made  in  Ireland,  sat  up  all  night  making  pistols 
from  a  number  of  odd  locks,  barrels  and  stocks. 
When  they  had  succeeded  and  drunk  chocolate 
followed  by  cherry  brandy,  they  started  out  for  the 
fight.  Harrington  thus  describes  his  opponent's 
appearance — 

"  He  was  a  very  fine-looking  young  fellow,  but  with 
such  a  squint  that  it  was  totally  impossible  to  say  what 
he  looked  at,  except  his  nose,  of  which  he  never  lost 
sight.  His  dress  made  me  ashamed  of  my  own;  he 
wore  a  pea-green  coat,  a  large  tucker  with  a  diamond 
brooch  stuck  in  it,  a  three-cocked  hat  with  a  gold 
button,  loop  and  tassels,  and  silk  stockings,  and  a 
couteau-de-ckasse  hung  gracefully  at  his  thigh." 

This  gorgeous  figure  made  Harrington  uneasy,  for 
he  liked  neither  his  steady  position,  showy  clothes  nor 
his  squinting  eye ;  but  the  delighted  Crosby  soon  had 
his  men  in  position,  crying — 

"  Hip  the  macaroni !  Never  look  at  the  head  or 
the  heels,  the  hip  for  ever,  my  boy." 

As  soon  as  Daly  took  his  stand,  about  nine  paces 
off,  and  presented  his  pistol,  Harrington  let  fly,  and, 
as  he  says,  "  without  losing  a  single  second  and  with- 


48     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

out  taking  aim,"  which  is  but  another  proof  that  the 
punctiliousness  said  to  be  observed  at  duels  was  on 
occasions  but  a  sham.  Daly  staggered,  put  his  hand 
to  his  breast,  and  cried,  "  I'm  hit,"  without  having  fired 
a  shot. 

The  three  young  men  gathered  round,  opened  his 
waistcoat  and  found  a  black  spot  about  the  size  of 
half-a^crown  directly  over  his  breast-bone.  The 
diamond  brooch  had  saved  the  macaroni's  life !  a 
fragment  of  the  trinket  still  sticking  into  the  bone. 
But  for  the  vanity  of  that  brooch  the  future  of  Dorothy 
Bland  might — who  knows  ? — have  been  very  different, 
for  Daly  would  of  a  certainty  have  been  killed. 

It  is  amusing  to  find  that  Barrington,  who  was  quite 
ready  to  kill  Daly  in  this  foolish  affair  and  to  look 
upon  the  deed  as  an  honourable  achievement,  was 
shocked  at  the  sight  of  the  diamonds  sticking  into 
Daly's  breast-bone.  Crosby,  on  the  other  hand,  cursed 
and  stamped  over  the  bad  powder,  then  laid  hold  of 
the  jewellery  and  pulled  it  out.  Daly  put  his  handker- 
chief to  his  breast  with  a  bow,  Barrington  returned 
a  deeper  bow,  and  so  they  parted,  excepting  that 
when  the  latter  asked  for  an  explanation  of  the 
challenge  Daly  replied  that  he  would  give  none,  for 
Rule  8  observed  by  Fire-eaters  commanded  that  if  a 
party  challenged  accepted  the  challenge  without  ask- 
ing the  reason  of  it,  the  challenger  was  not  bound  to 
divulge  it  afterwards ! 

However,  it  was  not  to  Daly's  advantage  to  fight 
duels  when  he  was  at  work,  though  he  and  Kemble 
did,  in  1785,  determine  to  take  each  other's  lives,  and 
to  make  sure  of  the  deed  arranged  to  meet  in  secret 
and  fight  their  quarrel  out.  Kindly  friends,  though, 


That  Ruffian  Daly  49 

had  warned  the  sheriffs  and  so  saved  both  a  good 
actor  and  a  weak  villain. 

But  in  a  usual  way  after  his  youth  Daly's  tastes  lay 
towards  cards  and  young  actresses.  He  would  have 
been  thought  the  last  person  to  join  a  Temperance 
Club,  yet  he  was  a  constant  attendant  at  one  such, 
where  the  only  refreshments  allowed  were  biscuits  and 
water.  But  then  it  was  not  altogether  strange  that 
many  of  the  most  prominent  bloods  of  the  town  were 
also  members  of  this  club,  for  its  one  purpose  was 
gambling.  This  was  the  man  who  was  to  give  Dorothy 
Francis  her  first  insight  into  the  ways  of  the  libertine, 
and  who  was  to  awaken  a  lasting  hatred  in  her  heart. 

It  was  in  1780  that  Daly,  concentrating  his  energies 
upon  an  attempt  to  give  himself  a  permanent  and 
lucrative  footing  on  the  Dublin  stage,  became  lessee 
of  the  hitherto  neglected  Smock  Alley  Theatre.  One 
chronicler  says  that  the  theatre  was  opened  by  Daly  on 
Wednesday,  November  3,  1780,  with  a  prelude  named 
Smock  Alley  Secrets,  or  the  Manager  Worried.  This 
may  have  been  so,  for  Dorothy  had  joined  his  com- 
pany before  August  1781,  when  they  all  went  to 
Waterford.  Oxberry,  in  his  Reminiscences,  says  that 
on  their  return  Dorothy  was  given  a  salary  of  ,£3  a 
week,  which  is  hardly  credible,  seeing  the  poverty 
of  the  theatres,  and  the  relative  value  of  money  at  that 
time.  When  the  grand  opening  of  Smock  Alley  was 
made  in  November  1781,  and  Kemble  was  engaged, 
he  only  had  £5  a  week.  However,  Daly  may  have 
had  reasons  for  ingratiating  his  little  actress,  and  if 
Herbert  is  to  be  trusted,  she  had  money  to  spare,  for 
he  says  that  she  often  tipped  him  a  crown.  It  is  to  be 
supposed  that  the  Blands  were  still  contributing  some 


5O     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

pittance  to  Grace,  and  there  is  evidence  of  strained 
feeling  between  the  families  on  one  occasion :  the 
report  being  that  Dorothy,  angered  by  hearing  of  some 
slighting  remark,  with  her  characteristic  impulsive- 
ness, had  herself  announced  on  the  play-bills  as  Miss 
Bland,  instead  of  Miss  Francis.  This  lasted  but  a 
few  days,  for,  moved  either  by  threats  or  reassurances, 
she  soon  resumed  the  latter  name. 

When  Daly  made  his  great  flourish  and  engaged 
Kemble,  that  young  gentleman  was  still  but  a  pro- 
vincial performer,  who  had  by  no  means  attained  to 
anything  like  his  later  celebrity,  and  £5  a  week  was 
a  very  good  salary  to  him.  Hamlet,  The  Belle's 
Stratagem,  and  The  Count  of  Narbonne  were  played, 
the  last  being  a  piece  dramatized  from  Walpole's 
Castle  of  Otranto  by  Jephson.  Dorothy  took  the  part 
of  Adelaide  in  this  play,  and  made  a  particular 
success;  while  Kemble,  in  this  Dublin  engagement, 
won  such  praise  that  his  future  London  career  was 
assured. 

The  exact  facts  about  Dorothy  and  Daly  can  now 
never  be  known,  but  she  must  by  this  time  have  been 
well  aware  of  the  man's  character,  which,  according 
to  all  the  chroniclers,  was  that  of  a  villain  of  promis- 
cuous tendencies,  whatever  his  other  virtues. 

The  following  severity  from  the  pen  of  William 
Oxberry,  the  comedian,  is  but  an  example  of  others — 

"  It  was  the  practice  of  this  hollow  sensualist  to 
advance  money  to  the  ladies  he  had  a  design  on,  and 
then  second  his  attempt  with  an  arrest  for  debt.  He 
had  often  recourse  to  brutal  violence.  Even  now, 
when  that  weak  villain's  bones  have  returned  to  the 
corruption  that  best  befitted  them,  we  could  find  it  in 
our  hearts  to  call  them  from  the  grave  to  be  burnt  as 


That  Ruffian  Daly  51 

a  sacrifice  to  offended  decency ;  and  in  saying  this,  we 
arrogate  no  particular  virtue  to  ourselves :  we  do  not 
mean  to  condemn  in  one  sweeping  clause  the  race 
called  (falsely  called)  men  of  pleasure;  but  let  them 
fight  their  battles  fairly,  at  all  events,  and  not  win  by 
meanness  (or  violence,  should  be  added),  that  which 
should  be  gained  by  favour." 

Daly  did  not  find  it  so  easy  with  Dorothy  Bland; 
she  was  only  just  twenty  and,  like  other  girls,  looked 
forward  to  romance  and  happiness  with  some  one 
whom  she  loved.  Thus  the  adulterous  advances  made 
by  him  terrified  her.  He  was  coarse  enough  to  say 
that  he  loved  her,  and  this  love  which  he  gave  so 
freely  could  have  had  no  pretty-pretty  sentiment  in  it, 
no  honesty;  it  meant  the  enslavement  of  body  and 
mind,  rough  and  lewd  handling,  such  as  Mrs.  Roman- 
zini,  an  Italian  Jewess,  complained  of  when  her 
daughter  of  about  fifteen  had  the  misfortune  to  come 
under  Daly's  management. 

"Vat  you  vant  vid  my  daughter?"  she  asked 
angrily.  '  You  are  always  running  after  her  and 
touching  her.  You  have  one  ver  fine  wife  of  your 
own,  so  I  beg  you  will  leave  my  child  alone." 

Daly  is  said  to  have  obeyed  on  that  occasion ;  but  he 
was  not  always  so  amenable.  If  the  actress  proved 
difficult  it  was  easy  for  him  to  change  familiarity  into 
threat  or  bribe,  and  if  he  foresaw  that  his  chase  would 
be  arduous,  he  used  a  little  diplomacy.  These 
methods  were  tried  upon  Dorothy,  seemingly  without 
avail,  and  though  there  are  various  versions  of  the 
affair,  all  agree  that  it  was  by  force  rather  than  consent 
that  the  young  actress  was  brought  to  submission. 

One  of  Daly's  approved  plans  was  deliberately  to 
degrade  a  girl  from  good  to  inferior  parts  with  less 


52     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

pay,  and  get  her  so  thoroughly  broken  that  the  only 
escape  would  seem  to  be  in  his  arms,  and  it  is  signi- 
ficant that  Dolly's  name  was  anything  but  prominent 
in  the  theatre  during  the  first  part  of  1781.  It  is  very 
possible,  too,  that  during  that  year  the  family  had  been 
reduced  to  great  straits,  a  situation  which  implies  debt. 

When  an  actress  had  been  reduced  to  this  condition 
it  was  Daly's  gentle  plan  to  sympathize  and  offer  to 
lend  her  a  sum  of  money,  which  the  poor  thing  had 
little  choice  but  to  accept,  perhaps  regarding  it  as 
unaffected  kindness  on  Daly's  part. 

If  the  girl  could  not  be  won  with  neglect  or  kindness 
Daly  then  had  a  new  system  of  torture,  and  that  was 
to  threaten  arrest  for  debt.  In  face  of  that  what  could 
a  friendless  young  girl  do,  for  what  was  a  debtor's 
prison  to  such  but  a  living  death  from  which  only 
real  death  could  release  her?  This  creature  seems  to 
have  gone  through  the  whole  series  of  his  little 
methods  with  Dorothy,  and  The  Great  Illegitimates 
affirms  that  Daly's  loan  was  made  after  a  severe  illness 
on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Bland,  which  took  all  their  money, 
and  continues  that  threats  and  cajolery  all  being 
unsuccessful,  Daly  ended  with  pure  violence.  She 
was  by  some  means  decoyed  to  the  house  of  a  person 
dependent  upon  him,  and  there  forcibly  detained, 
"  until  every  unfair  advantage  had  been  taken  of  her 
defenceless  situation."  The  Secret  History  and  other 
accounts  add  that  no  sooner  "  did  she  escape  from  so 
cruel  and  infamous  a  treachery,"  than  she  "  fled  from 
Dublin,  and  accompanied  by  her  mother  went  to 
Leeds."  In  these  accounts  truth  lies,  but  the  form  in 
which  that  truth  is  presented  varies  with  each  writer's 
sentiments  and  ideas.  Dorothy  certainly  did  not  flee 
from  Dublin  directly  Daly  had  reduced  her  to  his  will ; 


That  Ruffian  Daly  53 

on  the  contrary,  she  was  given  very  good  parts,  and 
continued  to  play  at  Smock  Alley  for  some  months. 
From  the  beginning  of  1782  she  acted  constantly  with 
Kemble,  taking  the  parts  of  Adelaide  in  The  Count 
of  Narbonne,  Charlotte  in  The  Gamester,  for 
Kemble's  benefit;  Selina  to  his  Bajazet  in  Tamerlane; 
Lady  Anne  to  his  Glo'ster  in  Richard  III ;  Miss  Ogle 
in  Mrs.  Cowley's  Belle's  Stratagem;  Louisa  in  The 
Discovery,  and  Maria  in  The  School  for  Scandal.  On 
May  14  she  was  Katherine  to  Kemble's  Petruchio;  and 
on  the  1 6th  of  that  month  she  spoke  the  Prologue 
before  Burgoyne's  musical  comedy,  The  Maid  of  the 
Oaks. 

From  that  day  she  disappeared  from  the  Dublin 
boards ! 

What  could  have  happened  then?  Whatever  had 
passed  between  her  and  Daly,  she  hated  him  with  all 
her  heart,  yet  she  must  have  remained  in  his  company 
for  some  months  after  she  had  surrendered  her  body 
to  his  will.  It  is  probable  that  the  situation  had  become 
too  repulsive  to  be  borne  any  longer,  and  that  there 
was  a  desperate  quarrel,  in  which  Daly  had  the  upper 
hand  all  along.  He  may  have  seen  what  was  coming, 
and  true  to  his  treacherous  nature  have  kept  back  her 
salary.  In  a  quarrel  the  impulsive  girl  would,  as  was 
her  wont,  betray  all  that  was  in  her  heart  without 
thought  of  the  future;  and  perhaps  it  was  then — and 
not  earlier — that  the  threat  of  prison  unless  she  repaid 
the  early  loan  descended  upon  her  bewildered  mind. 
The  very  idea  of  a  debtor's  prison  put  her  into  a  panic, 
as  it  did  thirty  years  later,  and  she  determined  to  flee 
from  Dublin  with  her  family. 

Young  Herbert,  who  was  in  entire  ignorance  of  the 
reason  of  the  flight,  says  that  he  saw  them  before  they 


54     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

left,  and  knowing  that  they  were  going  in  poverty, 
he  pressed  into  Dorothy's  hands  a  little  bag  contain- 
ing many  of  the  crowns  which  she  had  bestowed  upon 
him,  but  she  gave  it  him  back,  saying — 

"  No,  I  will  not ;  if  I  were  more  distressed  I  would 
not  touch  a  penny  of  what  I  had  hoped  you  would 
have  taken  in  good  part." 

Then,  forgetting  herself,  she  proceeded  to  give  him 
hints  about  acting,  as  she  knew  he  wanted  to  become 
an  actor. 

In  Walker's  Hibernian  Magazine  (1792)  it  is 
asserted  that  the  fruits  of  "an  accident  began  to  be 
visible,  and  a  variety  of  reasons  pressed  her  imme- 
diate departure."  This  is  scarcely  probable,  as  her 
child  was  not  born  until  six  months  later,  and  she 
could  have  well  hidden  the  matter  until  the  end  of 
the  season. 

However,  knowing  what  fate  awaited  her  before  the 
end  of  the  year,  without  luggage  and  with  little  money, 
Dorothy,  her  mother,  sister  and  brother,  fled  from 
Dublin  to  England  in  June  1782.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  girl's  feelings  for  Daly,  for  no  bribe  or 
entreaty  would  induce  her  later  to  act  in  Dublin  while 
he  was  there,  though  once  he  offered  her  a  princely 
sum  to  help  to  restore  something  like  glory  to  his 
theatre. 

It  may  be  objected  that  Daly  did  not  habitually 
pursue  the  system  described  above,  and  that  the  whole 
account  was  intended  to  shield  Dorothy's  name  from 
lightness.  But  there  are  many  proofs  that  he  followed 
this  plan  of  threatened  imprisonment  on  many  occa- 
sions. There  was  the  case  of  the  young  and  pretty 
Mrs.  Esten,  who  was  deserted  by  her  husband  and 
who  was  thus  treated  by  Daly,  having  been  arrested 


FRANCES    DALY,    MRS.    ALSO!' 
DAUGHTER   OF   DOROTHY  JORDAN 

FROM    AN    ENORAVING    IN    THE    1'OSSESSION    OF    MR.  J.   F.    FULLER 


DOROTHY    JORDAN    AND    RICHARD    DALY 

FROM    AN    ENGRAVING    IN   THE    "TOWN   AND   COUNTRY    MAGAZINE" 
DECEMHER    1786 


That  Ruffian  Daly  55 

at  his  instigation.  For  this  he  was  attacked  in  the 
Dublin  Evening  Post  by  its  proprietor-editor,  Magee, 
against  whom  Daly  had  the  temerity  to  press  a  libel 
suit.  During  the  hearing  of  the  case  the  following 
letter  from  the  chivalrous  Magee  to  the  actress  was 
read  in  Court — 

"August  21,  1789. — Mrs.  Esten,  on  the  immediate 
receipt  fly  to  Mr.  Edwards,  bookseller,  Cork.  I  have 
enclosed  him  for  your  use  a  draft  on  London  for 
twenty  guineas.  Fly !  Fly !  I  know  you  were 
arrested  by  a  ruffian  in  uniform  on  Friday  last  at 
dinner.  I  heard  of  the  outrage,  and  instantly  flew  to 
the  bailiff's  lock-up  house — to  the  Marine  Hotel. 
There  I  learned  that  you  were  forced  to  Cork.1  I 
know  how  you  have  been  used  by  that  villain,  that 
ruffian  Daly.  Fly  !  Fly  !  I  leave  this  for  London 
on  the  ist  of  September;  leave  address  at  James 
Woodmason's,  Leadenhall  Street.  Yours,  J.  MAGEE. 
— To  Mrs.  Esten,  Cork."2 

In  later  years,  when  Daly  got  into  a  habit  of  sum- 
moning Astley  for  infringing  the  rights  of  his  patent, 
his  counsel  stated  that  the  penalties  recoverable  would 
be  given  to  the  Lying-in  Hospital.  In  reply,  the 
opposing  counsel  said  :  '  That  it  was  notorious  no 
man  in  Dublin  had  contributed  more  largely,  in  one 
way,  to  the  Lying-in  Hospital  than  Mr.  Daly;  and  it 
was  therefore  but  fair,  if  he  recovered  in  this  action, 
that  he  should  give  them  the  cash;  but,"  continued 
the  facetious  counsel,  "  although  Mr.  Daly's  attach- 
ment to  good  pieces  is  proverbial,  we  don't  choose 
that  he  shall  monopolize  all  the  good  pieces  in  Dublin, 
from  My  Grandmother  down  to  Miss  in  her  Teens" 

1  Daly  owned  the  Cork  theatre  also. 

8  A  Curious  Genealogical  Medley,  by  J.  F.  Fuller,;F.S.A. 


CHAPTER    IV 

"  IT !    THE   GREAT   TREASURE  " 

"  Just  emblem  of  all  lovely  nature, 
Ordain'd  to  charm  by  ev'ry  feature, 
Reigning  unrivall'd  in  thy  art, 
Delight  of  ev'ry  feeling  heart ; 
Applause  await  and  crown  thy  wishes, 
Nations  accord,  '  She  all  possesses  ! ' " 

"  My  acquaintances  are  so  censorious  (oh,  'tis  a  wicked  censorious 
world,  Mr.  Homer !),  I  say,  are  so  censorious,  and  detracting,  that 
perhaps  they'll  talk  to  the  prejudice  of  my  honour." — The  Country 
IVije,  by  WILLIAM  WYCHERLEY. 

TATE  WILKINSON  had  become  renowned  in  the 
theatrical  world  by  1782  more  by  his  powers  of 
mimicry  than  by  his  acting,  and  still  more  by  his 
remarkable  energy  in  organizing  the  work  of  several 
theatres  at  once.  He  first  appeared  on  the  stage  in 
Dublin  in  1757,  when  in  the  old  Aungier  Street 
Theatre  he  acted  with  Grace  Philipps.  Later  he 
became  known  as  the  lessee  and  manager  of  the  York, 
Leeds  and  Hull  theatres,  and  he  also  took  companies 
to  Doncaster,  Wakefield,  Sheffield  and  other  towns  in 
Yorkshire.  In  addition  to  this  he  from  time  to  time 
acted  in  many  of  the  provincial  towns,  and  even  in 
Covent  Garden,  thus  earning  for  himself  the  title  of 
'  The  Wandering  Patentee."  In  the  eyes  of  the  law 
actors  were  but  strolling  vagabonds,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
public  they  were  the  public's  most  obliged  and 
obedient  servants,  ready  meekly  to  apologize  if  they 
failed  to  please,  and  were  expected  to  look  upon  it  as 
but  justice  if  their  property  were  wrecked  by  an  ill- 

56 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"      57 

mannered  mob;  in  the  eyes  of  society  the  best  actor 
was  not  fit  to  tie  the  shoelace  of  a  gentleman  nor  to  call 
himself  a  gentleman.  Tate  Wilkinson,  however,  was 
the  son  of  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  who  had  been  chaplain 
to  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  who,  for  solemniz- 
ing marriages  in  defiance  of  the  Marriage  Act  of 
George  II,  was  sentenced  to  transportation  to  America, 
but  died  at  Plymouth  on  the  outgoing  voyage.  Tate 
Wilkinson  finished  his  education  at  Harrow,  and  was, 
as  a  contemporary  said,  a  polished  gentleman ;  yet,  in 
spite  of  all  the  social  prejudices  against  actors,  he 
chose  the  despised  profession  that  he  might  indulge 
his  love  of  mimicry. 

By  1782  his  position  and  fame  had  long  been 
assured,  and  Mrs.  Bland,  who  seems  from  this  point 
to  have  taken  her  husband's  real  name,  turned  her 
thoughts  to  him  in  her  necessity. 

Wilkinson  was  at  that  time  stationed  at  Leeds,  and 
there  the  Blands  finished  their  journey  from  Dublin, 
arriving  early  in  July.  But  in  what  a  plight  were 
they! 

How  was  it  that  within  six  weeks  of  acting  the 
principal  woman's  parts  for  months  in  Dublin,  Dorothy 
and  her  family  arrived  at  Leeds  so  ill-dressed  that 
Tate  Wilkinson  was  ashamed  of  them?  To  put  it  in 
his  own  delicate  way,  they  were  not  "  so  well  accoutred 
as  I  could  have  wished  for  their  sakes  and  mine  own." 
Dorothy  was  destitute  of  clothing,  the  others  were  in  a 
deplorable  state,  without  money,  friends,  acquaint- 
ances, or  any  possibility  of  credit.  The  girl's  attrac- 
tion depended  on  her  animation,  yet  here  on  first  seeing 
the  actor  from  whom  she  desired  work  she  was  in  such 
a  state  of  depression  that  there  was  no  prettiness  in  her 


5 8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

looks;  on  the  contrary,  she  was  dejected  and  melan- 
choly, the  tears  slowly  dropping,  so  sad  and  so  helpless 
that  the  man's  pity  was  awakened  and  he  checked  the 
decided  "  No  "  which  rose  to  his  lips  at  the  request 
that  he  would  give  her  a  trial. 

There  can  be  but  the  one  explanation  that  I  have 
given  :  that  in  a  panic  Dorothy  rushed  from  Dublin, 
without  her  salary  and  without  luggage,  ready  to  starve 
rather  than  to  remain  longer  in  Daly's  vindictive 
power. 

On  their  arrival  at  Leeds  Mrs.  Bland  wrote  to 
Wilkinson,  and  he  went  to  see  them  at  their  inn,  being 
most  unfavourably  impressed  by  them  and  their  sur- 
roundings. Mrs.  Bland,  poor  woman,  whom  he  recog- 
nized as  the  Grace  Philipps  of  a  quarter  of  a  century 
earlier,  was  so  eager  for  his  approbation  that  she 
overdid  the  praises  of  her  daughter,  talking  so  ful- 
somely  that  Wilkinson  was  disgusted,  and  at  once 
resolved  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 

The  thing  which  most  upset  him,  however,  was  that, 
having  heard  Mrs.  Bland  talk  ad  nauseam,  he  turned 
to  Dorothy  with  the  question — 

"  But  what  do  you  play  ?  Comedy,  tragedy,  farce, 
or  what  ?  " 

"  All !  "  replied  the  girl,  with  dull  indifference. 

Wilkinson  gasped  and  stared;  and  Dorothy,  in 
telling  the  story  in  later  life,  would  add — 

"  Sir,  I  never  saw  an  elderly  gentleman  more 
astonished." 

Yet  the  pathos  of  Dorothy's  aspect  was  too  much 
for  his  kind  heart,  and  he  compromised  by  going  away 
for  half  an  hour  to  think  matters  over.  He  was  not 
only  horrified  by  their  poverty  and  distress,  but  fearful 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"       59 

of  the  load  which  Dorothy  was  bearing.  He  could 
pay  an  actress  sufficient  for  her  own  support,  but 
sufficient  for  the  support  of  four  persons  was  quite 
another  thing,  and  he  was  afraid  of  what  demands 
might  be  made  upon  him.  He  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  might  at  least  see  what  the  young  lady  could 
do,  and  with  that  intention  returned.  Dorothy,  how- 
ever, declared  that  she  was  not  then  equal  even  to 
repeating  some  lines,  and  would  rather  have  a  fair  trial 
on  the  boards,  to  which  the  manager  reluctantly  agreed. 

The  trouble  probably  was  that  the  Elands  were  all 
hungry,  and  Dorothy  was  too  low  to  be  able  to  put  any 
heart  into  her  words.  Wilkinson  ordered  a  bottle  of 
madeira,  and  while  they  were  drinking  it  Mrs.  Bland 
gave  him  the  news  of  Dublin,  which  allowed  time 
for  her  daughter  to  pull  herself  together,  the  wine 
helping  her  and  sending  a  warmer  current  through  her 
veins.  Seeing  this,  Wilkinson  again  suggested  that 
she  should  speak  a  few  lines  from  the  part  of  Callista 
in  The  Fair  Penitent,  a  play  then  much  appreciated, 
and  she  agreed. 

On  hearing  her  wonderful  voice  Wilkinson  was  con- 
quered, and  records,  "  I  felt  inwardly  surprised  and 
delighted,  and  could  not  repress  my  hopes  and  my 
compliments,  and  assured  her  I  was  lucky  in  such  an 
acquaintance.  She,  on  her  part,  said  if  she  could 
please  me  she  did  not  fear  the  audience;  for  Mr. 
Wilkinson  was  a  man  (though  a  stranger  to  her)  of  such 
well-known  honour  that  his  word  and  direction  should 
be  her  guide ;  she  knew  if  she  had  merit  it  would  soon 
be  found  out  by  the  public;  and  her  diligence,  her 
anxiety  to  deserve  my  favour,  should  be  unbounded; 
and  gratitude  being  her  natural  good  quality,  I  should 


60     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ever  receive  that  payment  for  my  kindness  to  her  in 
her  destitute  case.  And  so  we  complimented  and 
flattered,  and  flattered  and  complimented,  till  we  really 
found  a  sudden  impulse  of  regard,  and  parted  that 
noon  with  mutual  good  wishes  and  assurances." 

The  good  man  went  from  that  strange  interview  with 
a  pleased  mind  and  a  feeling  that  he  had  really  found 
a  treasure,  and  he  could  not  hide  his  satisfaction,  for, 
joining  his  company  for  a  rehearsal,  he  entertained 
them  with  a  description  of  the  little  "  female  Proteus  " 
who  had  applied  to  him. 

Wilkinson  had  also  a  further  motive  of  association 
to  induce  him  to  consider  Dorothy  as  a  possible 
member  of  his  company,  for  the  unmarried  Miss 
Philipps — her  mother's  sister,  who  had  been  on  the 
stage  in  minor  companies  presumably  ever  since  that 
visit  to  London — had  been  acting  sometimes  in  York 
and  elsewhere  under  his  management. 

In  the  Elixir  of  Life  it  is  asserted — though  Wil- 
kinson does  not  give  the  incident  either  in  his  Memoirs 
which  were  published  at  York  in  1790,  nor  in  The 
Wandering  Patentee  which  saw  the  light  five  years 
later — that  he  was  from  the  first  prejudiced  against 
the  Elands  by  Daly,  who  had  written  to  him  that 
Dorothy  "was  the  worst  of  wretched  actresses."  If 
that  is  true,  the  letter  would  probably  have  followed 
and  not  preceded  the  arrival  of  the  impecunious 
family,  and  so  would  have  received  no  notice.  It  cer- 
tainly did  not  precede  them,  for  Wilkinson  announces 
their  coming  in  his  most  entertaining  book  with — "  The 
MRS.  JORDAN  suddenly  starts  upon  me  at  Leeds  with 
her  mother,  Mrs.  G.  Phillips,  Master  and  Miss  Francis 
her  brother  and  sister,  all  hand  in  hand." 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"      61 

Once  having  made  up  his  mind  to  try  Dorothy,  the 
manager,  without  asking  questions,  billed  his  new- 
comer as  Miss  Bland,  somewhat  to  the  mother's  dis- 
turbance, who  told  him  that  for  the  future  the  name 
of  Francis  was  to  be  used  in  public.  She  was  hoping 
not  only  for  the  continuance  of  the  dole  the  Blands 
made  her,  but  that  they  would  at  least  do  something 
substantial  for  the  boy,  the  son  of  Francis  Bland,  and 
she  had  no  wish  to  offend  them. 

Besides  billing  the  new  actress  well,  Wilkinson  did 
everything  he  could  to  ensure  a  good  audience  for 
her  first  night,  with  the  result  that  the  theatre  was 
crowded  on  July  11,1782,  when  Dorothy  duly  appeared 
as  Callista  in  The  Fair  Penitent.  She  was  horribly 
nervous  as  she  stood  in  the  wings;  it  is  said  that  she 
always  lost  her  head  before  going  on  the  stage,  but 
that  the  first  step  on  the  boards  banished  every  atom  of 
self-consciousness.  Thus  it  was  on  this  first  perform- 
ance in  England,  and  she  pleased  the  audience,  which 
was  inclined  to  be  critical  first  and  pleasant  only  as  an 
afterthought.  She  had  stipulated  that,  the  play  being 
over,  she  should  go  on  again  to  sing  the  song  of  "  The 
Greenwood  Laddie,"  a  song  with  which  she  was  accus- 
tomed to  get  good  results;  and  Tate  Wilkinson  did 
his  best  to  dissuade  her  from  it. 

"  How  can  you  die  pathetically  and  then  come  on 
all  alive  and  singing  a  pretty  ballad  ?  "  he  asked. 

But  she  would  not  be  moved,  so  after  her  death  as 
Callista  she  appeared  again  in  a  simple  frock  and 
little  mob-cap,  and  sang  the  song  with  such  effect  that 
both  the  audience  and  the  manager  were  fascinated  by 
the  melody  of  her  voice.  She  played  sufficiently  and 
successfully  enough  that  month  to  have  a  benefit  on 


August  6,  and  then  the  whole  company  went  to 
York. 

For  their  work  in  that  city  Wilkinson  had  prepared 
bills  announcing  Miss  Francis,  and  Mrs.  Bland  once 
more  interfered,  sending  him  a  note  in  which  she  said 
that  for  very  important  reasons  the  name  of  Francis 
must  be  changed.  His  natural  retort  was,  "  Why  not 
Bland,  then?"  Dorothy  answered  that  that  would 
injure  them  too  much  with  her  father's  relatives,  and 
it  is  obvious  that  in  changing  her  name  from  Francis 
her  design  was  again  to  hide  her  identity  from  them. 
Wilkinson  gives  two  different  accounts  of  how  the  word 
Jordan  was  chosen,  and  others  have  added  their  ideas  : 
"  For  pregnant  reasons  the  name  of  Francis  gave  place 
to  that  of  Jordan,"  flippantly  asserted  one  wag. 

One  of  Wilkinson's  accounts  runs  that  he  said  to 
her,  "  You  have  crossed  the  water,  my  dear,  so  I'll  call 
you  Jordan !  "  Then,  in  telling  the  tale  in  later  life, 
he  always  added,  "  And,  by  Sam,  if  she  didn't  take  my 
joke  in  earnest,  and  call  herself  Mrs.  Jordan  ever  since." 

His  more  restrained  explanation  is  that  he  and  the 
Elands  met  to  talk  it  over,  and  ultimately  the  name  of 
Jordan  was  adopted ;  "  and  a  good  name  it  has  proved 
for  her  credit,  and  will  be  remembered  with  the  tribute 
of  honour  to  her  undoubted  excellent  talents  while  the 
stage  is  permitted  any  share  in  history  or  conversation." 

One  newspaper  account  of  her  life  says  that  Dorothy 
herself  explained  her  name  by  saying  to  a  friend  that 
she  was  sure  that  in  Ireland  she  had  shed  enough  tears 
to  overflow  the  River  Jordan,  on  which  the  friend 
pointed  out  that  there  was  a  name  for  her  choice. 

But,  so  far  as  I  can  prove,  this  was  another  of  those 
incidents  in  her  life  of  which  Dorothy  alone  kept  the 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"       63 

secret.  Wilkinson  in  a  vague  way,  and  Boaden,  who 
wrote  of  her  in  1831,  both  connect  the  choice  of  the 
name  with  the  Miss  Philipps  who  was  then  dying  in 
the  very  city  which  the  company  had  reached.  Boaden 
remarks  in  his  usual  discursive  fashion — he  was  a 
wonderful  person  for  talking  around  the  subject  and 
never  arriving  at  the  point — 

'  The  reader  must  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
reason  which  produced  this  new  decision  as  to  the 
name  on  the  arrival  at  York.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that  her 
aunt,  Miss  Philipps,  who  had  also  been  an  actress  in 
the  York  company,  and  was  now  lying  dangerously  ill, 
had  that  last  infirmity  of  the  Welsh  mind,  a  high  value 
for  the  families  to  which  she  claimed  alliance — the 
Ap-Griffiths,  the  Winnys,  and  the  Aprices  of  Wales. 
She  had  earnestly  entreated  to  see  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Bland,  and  to  welcome  her  niece,  whom  she  pro- 
nounced to  be  already  an  honour  to  the  stock  from 
which  she  derived  alike  her  theatrical  and  lineal 
honours,  and  as  this  near  relative  was  at  the  point  of 
death  .  .  .  prudence  and  affection  concurred  in  allow- 
ing the  last  wish  of  an  aunt  who  felt  her  interest  so 
strongly." 

Now  what  was  the  wish?  To  see  her  sister  or  to 
agree  to  the  change  of  name?  Boaden  starts  to  give 
the  reason  for  the  change  of  name  and  ends  by  telling 
nothing. 

My  conjecture  is  that  this  biographer  intended  to 
give  the  real  information,  but  that  his  habit  of  slurring 
anything  which  would  detract  from  the  honour  of  the 
connections  of  his  heroine — he  does  it  all  through  his 
book — made  him  temporize  and  reduce  his  information 
to  the  finest  point. 


64     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

When  hunting  for  confirmation  of  my  suspicions 
concerning  the  birth  of  Dorothy  Bland  I  found,  as  has 
been  told,  a  third  entry  in  the  book  in  St.  Martin's 
vestry,  to  this  effect — 

Aug.  14,  1761.  [Baptized]  Dorothy,  [daughter  of] 
Ignatius  and  Mary  Jordan.  [Born]  Aug.  14. 

Now  this  was  at  a  time  when  Miss  Philipps  was  most 
probably  in  London  with  her  sister  and  settled  near  her 
in  St.  Martin's  parish.  She  may  have  made  a  marriage 
which  was  unhappy,  or  of  short  duration ;  she  may  not 
even  have  married  Ignatius  at  all,  only  the  absurdly 
ponderous  name  makes  it  impossible  to  connect  the 
young  man  with  any  lightness  of  thought.  If  some 
trouble  occurred  and  she  found  it  necessary  soon  to  go 
back  to  her  work  alone,  it  was  certain  that  she  would 
take  it  up  again  under  the  name  by  which  she  had  so 
far  been  known,  and  she  certainly  would  have  no 
reason  to  confide  her  private  affairs  to  any  one, 
certainly  not  to  such  an  inveterate  gossip  as  Tate 
Wilkinson. 

Thus  my  theory  is  that  the  little  Dorothy  Jordan 
who  was  born  so  weakly  that  she  had  to  be  baptized 
the  same  day,  and  then  most  likely  died,  was  the 
daughter  of  Miss  M.  Philipps,  and  that  the  wish  to 
which  "  both  prudence  and  affection "  conceded  was 
that  the  girl  who  seemed  on  the  road  to  fame  should 
bear  with  her  the  memory  of  the  little  cousin  whom  she 
had  never  seen,  and  so  warm  the  soul  of  the  dying 
woman  with  the  idea  that  her  child  would  not  be  wholly 
forgotten.  But  this  is  all  theory  drawn  from  the 
association  of  names,  and  the  "  wish  "  of  Miss  Philipps. 

Miss  Philipps  had  been  acting  for  Tate  Wilkinson 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"      65 

for  some  years  until  1769,  when  she  ended  her  engage- 
ment with  him  in  angry  jealousy  of  a  young  actress 
named  Baker,  for  the  elder  lady  believed  greatly  in  her 
own  prowess  and  could  not  bear  to  see  another  take  her 
parts.  After  that  she  acted  in  many  provincial  towns ;  her 
name  is  recorded  at  Manchester,  for  instance,  in  1771. 

If  Boaden,  awed  by  having  known  personally  and 
having  made  himself  very  useful  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  and 
by  having  on  various  occasions  come  in  contact  with 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  was  too  subservient  to  his  king, 
William  IV,  to  speak  out,  such  is  not  the  character  of 
Wilkinson.  He  had  the  fault  or  the  virtue  of  all  good 
raconteurs,  he  never  could  resist  telling  a  good  story. 
As  regards  Miss  Philipps,  he  also  betrays  some  slight 
resentment,  which  makes  him  relish  making  such  a 
statement  about  the  meeting  of  the  relatives  as  "  She 
had  plenty  of  clothes  and  linen  (at  the  pawnbroker's); 
she  bequeathed  them  to  her  beloved  niece  (which  under 
the  rose  was  not  at  that  time  by  any  means  unaccept- 
able)." He  also  confides  to  his  public  that  Miss 
Philipps  had  a  fatal  weakness — probably  the  drink  or 
drug  habit. 

That  Daly  in  his  spite  did  threaten  to  sue  Dorothy 
is  quite  true.  She  had  signed  a  contract  to  work  for 
so  long  with  him,  and  she  left  before  that  time  was  up, 
the  full  penalty  being  £250.  So  the  choice  was  put 
before  her,  either  to  return  or  to  pay  the  money,  which, 
however,  was  really  a  choice  between  returning  to 
Dublin  or  going  to  prison.  But  by  the  time  this  affair 
had  grown  serious,  Tate  Wilkinson  was  perfectly  per- 
suaded that  he  had  obtained  a  treasure,  and  he  had 
exerted  himself  to  befriend  that  treasure  to  the  best  of 
his  ability.  Probably  thinking  that  her  acting  would  be 


66     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

better  for  a  little  tuition,  he  had  introduced  her  to  a 
dramatic  critic,  an  old  gentleman  named  Cornelius 
Swan,  who  was  much  respected  in  York,  and  who 
thought  highly  of  Dorothy's  powers,  though  he  was 
also  certain  that  no  one  could  approach  himself  in  the 
knowledge  of  how  things  should  be  done. 

Mr.  Swan  undertook  to  give  Dorothy  lessons,  and  he 
was  so  eager  to  see  her  improvement  that  it  is  said  that 
when  she  was  ill  (perhaps  during  her  stay  at  York)  he 
was  admitted  to  her  bedchamber,  and  would  sit  by  the 
side  of  her  bed,  wrapped  up  and  adorned  in  Mrs. 
Eland's  old  red  cloak,  and  so  instruct  the  girl  in  how 
to  act  the  character  of  Zara  in  the  tragedy  of  that  name 
by  Hill. 

"  Really,  Wilkinson,"  said  he,  "  I  have  given  the 
Jordan  but  three  lessons,  but  she  is  so  adroit  at 
receiving  my  instructions  that  I  swear  that  she  repeats 
the  character  as  well  as  Mrs.  Gibber  ever  did ;  nay,  let 
me  do  the  Jordan  justice,  for  I  do  not  exceed  when 
with  truth  I  declare  Jordan  speaks  it  as  well  as  I  could 
myself !  " 

His  friendship  went  further  than  his  praise,  for  when 
he  knew  the  dreadful  predicament  in  which  Dorothy 
was  placed,  he  actually  paid  the  £250,  rather  than  lose 
so  promising  a  pupil,  or  let  the  stage  be  robbed  of  one 
for  whom  he  expected  fame.  It  was  done  with  many 
assurances  of  lasting  friendship  and  declarations  that 
for  the  future  she  must  consider  herself  his  adopted 
daughter ;  but  the  exacting  manager  noted  that  he  "  did 
not  prove  a  tender,  fond  parent,  for  at  his  death  he  did 
not  leave  her  a  shilling." 

Wilkinson  had  started  his  young  actress  with  fifteen 
shillings  a  week — little  enough,  it  may  be  thought,  and 


"  It !  The  Great  Treasure  "       67 

much  less  than  she  had  been  receiving ;  but  then  these 
small  theatres  did  not  bring  in  much  money,  and  it  was 
hard  work  to  pay  all  and  still  retain  something.  But 
the  race  week  at  York  was  not  only  successful,  it  made 
the  intelligent  Patentee  see  the  need  for  keeping  his 
"  treasure  "  in  his  own  hand.  Among  those  who  came 
down  to  the  races  that  year,  and  who  came  every  year, 
was  an  actor  known  at  Drury  Lane  and  in  the  profes- 
sion as  Gentleman  Smith,  and  he  spent  the  first  evening 
of  his  stay  in  the  theatre.  There  to  his  surprise  he 
found  a  girl  who  gave  great  promise,  and  with  whose 
acting  he  was  so  much  impressed  that  he  repeated  his 
visits  to  the  play  every  evening,  watching  Dorothy  in 
many  different  parts,  and  confiding  his  opinion  of  her 
ability  to  the  genial  manager.  To  guard  against  thefts 
and  accidents  the  alert  Wilkinson  at  once  doubled 
Dorothy's  salary,  and  gave  her  an  extraordinary 
benefit,  "  for  her  services  were  truly  valuable,  and  she 
not  only  wanted  but  truly  deserved  every  encourage- 
ment/' One  wonders  if  he  would  have  been  so  sure 
of  this  if  he  had  not  also  been  afraid  that  Gentleman 
Smith  might  lure  her  to  London.  To  make  matters 
entirely  safe  he,  as  soon  as  he  got  back  to  Leeds,  had 
the  articles  of  a  long  engagement  settled,  and  there- 
after he  felt  less  alarmed  concerning  any  reports  that 
Gentleman  Smith  might  give  in  London  of  Mrs. 
Jordan's  cleverness. 

But  in  one  respect  Dorothy  had  succeeded  too  well 
for  her  comfort.  The  absurd  practice  of  women  taking 
men's  parts  was  tried  by  Wilkinson,  and  one  actor  left 
the  company  in  disgust  because  his  part  was  given  to 
Mrs.  Jordan;  the  actresses,  also,  were  too  jealous  to 
be  friendly.  "  Why  should  this  new-comer  have  two 


68     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

benefits  in  three  months  ? "  they  asked ;  which  was 
indeed  too  sore  a  point  to  be  forgotten;  thus  as  soon 
as  Dorothy  appeared  in  the  Green  Room  in  the 
evenings  she  would  hear  some  such  conversation  as — 

"  Pray,  ma'am,  when  is  your  benefit  ? " 

"  Oh,  I  cannot  say.  When  is  yours  ?  for  I  see  Mrs. 
Jordan  begins  with  one  next  Wednesday." 

They  all  turned  against  her,  and  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  support  of  Wilkinson — for  she  had  gregarious 
instincts,  and  to  be  sent  to  Coventry  by  those  around 
her  depressed  her  miserably — she  would  have  failed 
under  the  daily  snubbing  she  received.  Her  com- 
panions could  not  believe  that  her  talents  were  in  any 
way  superior  to  their  own ;  they  put  her  good  fortune 
down  to  the  partiality  of  the  manager ;  and  he,  totally 
indifferent  to  their  attitude  to  him,  could  only  feel  that 
it  was  impossible  to  let  slip  one  who,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "gave  uncommon  labour  and  study  to  the 
theatre";  one  whose  spirits  (temper?),  as  he  quaintly 
says,  "were  never  violent  except  when  scolding  the 
manager  or  having  an  empty  pocket." 

Dorothy  went  with  the  company  to  other  Yorkshire 
towns  (Wakefield,  Doncaster  and  Sheffield),  and  it  was 
at  the  last  place  that  she  had  a  narrow  escape  of  her 
life;  for  when  playing  the  part  of  the  chambermaid, 
with  Knight,  the  Liverpool  manager,  as  footman  in 
The  Fair  American,  a  drop-scene  on  a  heavy  roller  fell 
suddenly  at  their  feet.  A  few  inches  more  to  the  back 
and  Mrs.  Jordan  would  never  more  have  been  heard 
of,  while  Knight  would  have  had  his  career  cut  short. 
During  this  visit  to  Sheffield  the  Duke  of  Norfolk — 
he  whom  the  Prince  of  Wales  once  made  so  frightfully 
drunk  on  brandy  at  the  Pavilion — developed  an 


"  It !  The  Great  Treasure  "      69 

admiration  for  Dorothy  and  would  bring  a  troop  of 
friends  to  see  her  act  whenever  she  was  in  that  town. 

But  to  return  to  the  jealous  ladies  :  one  of  the  most 
jealous  was  a  Mrs.  Smith — "who  toiled  hard  in  my 
vineyard  and  earned  her  reward,"  says  Wilkinson. 
This  lady  regarded  her  reward,  however,  as  something 
more  than  work  or  wages ;  she  required  to  stand  first  in 
public  and  managerial  estimation.  Unfortunately  for 
this  ambition,  she  was  that  summer  and  autumn  in  that 
condition  which  a  woman  desires  to  be  who  loves  her 
lord,  and  the  fear  of  her  enforced  rest  acted  on  her 
nerves,  producing  an  exceptional  amount  of  spite  and 
rivalry.  However,  inexorable  Nature  decreed  that 
Mrs.  Smith  should  lay  down  her  arms,  and  Dorothy 
Jordan  joyfully  took  up  the  burden  of  the  fight.  Wil- 
kinson says  that  the  latter  would  learn  a  new  part  in 
twenty-four  hours,  and  that  she  played  night  after 
night  with  unremitting  zeal.  She,  too,  knew  that  her 
time  was  short,  but  she  made  the  best  of  it  both  for 
her  manager  and  herself.  It  would  have  been  better 
for  Mrs.  Smith  had  she  been  content  comfortably  to 
let  things  slide,  for  the  laugh  would  have  been  on  her 
side  in  November  and  December.  But  she  was  so 
determined  to  allow  no  advantage  to  her  rival  by  a 
lengthy  absence,  that  "in  a  short  time  of  her  lying- 
in"  (I  cannot  decide  whether  this  means  before  or 
after,  for  Tate  Wilkinson  adds  "  though  a  very  remark- 
able wet  September"),  she  would  walk  in  a  damp 
garden  to  get  strength  for  the  journey  of  eighteen 
miles  from  Doncaster  to  Sheffield,  to  which  place  the 
company  went  on  October  13.  Her  infant  was  born 
on  the  second  of  that  month,  so  if  the  walks  in  the 
damp  garden  were  taken  between  the  second  and  the 


70     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

eighteenth,  then  Mrs.  Smith  simply  asked  for  disaster. 
Wilkinson  begged  her  neither  to  go  to  Sheffield  nor  to 
act  until  she  was  quite  strong,  but  she  insisted  upon 
taking  the  journey — and  it  meant  driving  in  as  cheap 
a  way  as  possible,  or  walking — with  the  consequence 
that  she  had  fixed  lameness  in  her  hip,  which  was  likely 
to  prove  dangerous.  Even  that  did  not  keep  her  from 
the  boards ;  act  she  would  and  act  she  did,  limping  and 
hobbling  over  the  stage  rather  than  let  Dorothy  appear, 
and  in  no  way  prevented  by  the  manager's  assurance 
that,  as  Jordan  was  at  hand,  there  was  no  need  for  her 
attendance.  The  result  of  this  headstrong  act  was  a 
relapse  and  an  enforced  rest  until  December  18.  As 
Dorothy  took  her  "  rest "  from  November  2  until  late 
in  December,  Wilkinson  was  left  lamenting  two  of  his 
chief  characters. 

She  spent  this  retirement  in  Hull,  and  her  absence 
from  the  stage  gave  plenty  of  opportunity  for  malici- 
ous gossip,  deliberate  efforts  being  made  there  to 
destroy  her  reputation — a  proof  of  her  merit,  else  such 
indefatigable  pains  to  injure  and  depress  had  not  been 
taken.  Thus  when  she  appeared  on  the  Hull  stage  in 
the  part  of  Callista  on  December  26,  1782,  though  the 
house  was  good,  her  reception  was  cool,  and,  as  all  her 
life  she  was  more  than  ordinarily  affected  by  the  atti- 
tude of  her  audiences,  her  performance  was  languid 
and  spiritless.  In  the  succeeding  song,  "  The  Green- 
wood Laddie,"  she  was  hissed. 

Wilkinson  puts  this  all  down  to  the  malevolence  of 
what  he  calls  the  "  Scandal  Club,"  otherwise  the 
jealous  tongues  of  the  actresses  in  his  company,  who 
represented  to  the  ladies  in  the  town  that  Mrs.  Jordan 
was  too  improper  a  person  to  receive  their  support. 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"      71 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Dorothy's  merits 
overcame  prejudice,  and  slander  was  mute. 

At  Sheffield,  in  1783,  theatrical  affairs  were  very 
low  in  public  estimation,  the  takings  one  night  being 
only  £6  95.,  though  Dorothy's  benefit  gained  £57. 
Six  pounds  nine  shillings  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  on 
record  that  on  one  occasion  when  Garrick  and  Mrs. 
Gibber  were  acting  at  Drury  Lane  the  evening's  cash 
receipts  amounted  only  to  £3  i$s.  6d.  The  Scandal 
Club  was  in  great  strength  in  Sheffield,  headed  by 
Mrs.  Smith  and  Mrs.  Ward,  a  new  acquisition  whose 
husband  was  in  the  band.  The  latter  was  very  proud 
of  herself  in  small  clothes,  and  resented  the  fact  that 
Mrs.  Jordan  had  all  the  parts  in  which  the  debonair 
young  man  was  played  by  a  woman.  Indeed,  her 
resentment  amounted  to  hatred,  and  she  fanned  Mrs. 
Smith's  jealousy  to  an  active  state.  These  two  women 
soon  infected  the  others,  and  an  organized  attempt  was 
made  to  render  Dorothy's  play  bad  by  small  persecu- 
tions, the  favourite  scheme  being  for  several  of  them 
to  sit  in  a  group  at  the  stage  door,  or  the  wings,  and 
do  everything  in  their  power  to  disconcert  her  when 
going  through  her  part.  Wilkinson  frustrated  this  by 
having  all  the  doors  which  were  not  needed  padlocked 
each  night,  and  the  knowledge  that  the  manager  was 
aware  of  what  was  going  on  acted  as  a  deterrent. 

Dorothy  was  a  clever  girl  though,  and  not  an  actress 
for  nothing,  and  she  managed  to  secure  retribution  for 
her  rivals  in  their  loss  of  popularity.  She  would  go 
on  the  stage  with  an  air  of  the  deepest  distress,  her 
eyes  red  and  tears  trickling,  her  tongue  tied  in  the 
effort  to  prevent  sobbing.  At  this  sad  sight  the 
audience  would  ask  what  could  possibly  be  the  matter? 


72     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

was  she  ill  or  injured?  and  then  the  whisper  would 
circulate  as  to  the  unkindness  of  her  sister  actresses. 
Mrs.  Smith  never  could  conquer  her  hatred,  and 
favours  received  from  her  rival  only  made  her  more 
bitter.  When  that  winter  she  and  her  husband  had  a 
benefit,  Dorothy,  with  fine  magnanimity,  offered  her 
services  and  drew  a  great  house,  thus  contributing 
largely  to  the  sum  pocketed  by  the  Smiths,  and  the 
lady  thanked  her  by  grumbling;  as  Wilkinson  says, 
"Jordan  was  the  fly  in  the  ointment,  and  still  Mrs. 
Smith  was  not  happy." 

There  were  some  incidents  in  her  life  which  Dorothy 
Bland  never  forgot,  among  them  being  naturally  the 
horror  and  distress  brought  upon  her  by  the  tyrant 
Daly,  and  the  struggles  of  her  early  years  on  the  stage. 
Her  memory  of  the  first  filled  her  mind  with  tender 
feelings  for  women  in  the  same  plight,  and  after  the 
birth  of  her  daughter  she  kept  by  her  several  complete 
sets  of  linen  necessary  to  a  lying-in,  which  she  lent 
out  to  poor  women.  When  in  after  years  she  had  more 
money  to  spend  she  increased  the  number  of  these 
bundles,  and  round  Richmond  and  Drury  Lane  was 
often  blessed  by  women  who  knew  not  where  to  secure 
necessities  in  their  extremity. 

For  struggling  actresses  she  always  felt  a  generous 
sympathy  and  often  showed  it  actively.  Thus  a  girl 
of  fifteen  named  Wilkinson  applied  to  Tate  (who  was 
no  relation)  for  work.  Fifteen  seems  an  absurd  age 
to  think  of  being  self-supporting,  but  this  girl  had 
several  years  earlier,  with  other  children,  including  the 
future  Mrs.  Kemble,  little  Romanzini,  who  was  the 
future  Mrs.  George  Bland,  and  others,  acted  at  the 
circus  in  London  in  a  piece  by  old  Dibdin  called 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"       73 

The  Boarding  School,  or  Breaking  Up,  a  performance 
which  was  so  successful  that  the  patent  proprietors 
interfered,  and  the  children  narrowly  escaped  gaol. 

Wilkinson  had  no  part  for  the  young  actress  and 
could  offer  little  hope  of  one,  but  to  relieve  her  imme- 
diate needs  he  promised  her  a  benefit  performance 
on  the  last  day  of  the  year.  She  was  quite  unknown 
to  the  company,  and  there  was  little  reason  why  any 
members  should  take  trouble  over  her;  but  Dorothy, 
thinking  pitifully  of  her  own  hard  struggle,  acted  as 
Lionel  to  her  Clarissa,  and  thus  earned  for  herself  the 
lasting  friendship  of  the  girl  who,  as  Mrs.  Mountain, 
was  later  well  known  on  the  London  boards.  Mrs. 
Smith  kept  her  jealousy  of  Dorothy  alive,  and  as  in 
her  benefit  during  the  winter  of  1783  she  was  not  only 
not  grateful  but  even  spiteful,  so  in  the  winter  of  1784 
she  followed  the  same  tactics :  for  that  benefit  a  new 
play,  Fontainebleau,  was  acted,  and  though  Mrs. 
Smith  was  given  the  part  most  suited  to  her,  she  was 
so  annoyed  that  she  could  not  have  that  allotted  to 
her  rival  that  she  quarrelled  violently  with  Wilkin- 
son, and  swore  she  would  spoil  the  character  every 
time  she  played  it.  This  she  proceeded  to  do,  forget- 
ting that  while  she  was  glorying  in  vexing  the  manager 
she  was  also  losing  her  reputation  as  an  actress. 

During  the  winter  season,  however,  of  1784-5 
Dorothy  lost  some  of  her  charm.  She  was  ill  and  in 
poor  spirits.  Wilkinson,  who  was  a  kind-hearted  man, 
though  he  had  grown  cynical  in  a  good-natured  way 
through  his  constant  study  of  the  actor-character,  could 
not  be  sure  whether  she  was  really  ill  or  only  affected 
to  be  so.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  though  Dorothy  was 
always  praised  for  her  spontaneity  and  her  natural 


74     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

acting,  she  was  all  through  her  life  to  be  suspected  of 
acting  when  illness  kept  her  off  the  stage.  She  was 
not  a  strong  woman,  but  any  indisposition  on  her  part 
was  generally  the  signal  for  some  cry  equivalent  to  the 
word  malingering. 

It  has  generally  been  said  that  Dorothy  entirely 
supported  her  family  of  five  persons  while  in  York, 
but  this  was  not  so;  for  if  Hester  did  not  start  acting 
as  soon  as  she  got  to  Yorkshire,  it  was  not  long  before 
she  began.  On  July  16,  1793,  she  made  her  first 
appearance  on  the  Leeds  stage,  as  Miss  Francis,  with 
a  song,  and  she  gradually  progressed  until  two  years 
later  she  was  acting  more  constantly  than  Dorothy,  and 
in  important  parts — Polly  in  A  Beggar  on  Horseback, 
Juliet  in  Measure  for  Measure,  etc.  George  also,  as 
Master  Francis,  filled  up  gaps,  such  as  a  printer's 
devil,  a  messenger,  an  archer,  and  occasionally  sang 
duets  on  the  stage  with  Dorothy.  It  is,  however,  very 
possible  that  he  got  little  or  nothing  for  his  juvenile 
performances. 

All  through  these  years  George  Inchbald,  stepson 
to  Mrs.  Inchbald,  was  a  member  of  the  company,  and 
there  was  the  beginning  of  a  romance  between  him  and 
Dorothy.  One  gossiper  records  that  he  loved  her,  but 
that  circumstances  were  too  desperate  and  her  pride 
was  too  great  for  her  to  accept  him,  but  the  weight  of 
evidence  lies  on  the  side  of  a  strong  emotion  on  the 
part  of  the  lady  which  won  a  condescending  but  weak 
reciprocation  from  the  gentleman.  Dorothy's  way- 
wardness, her  recurring  depression  and  fitful  humour 
at  this  time  point  rather  to  a  trouble  of  the  heart  and 
mind  than  to  disease  of  the  body,  to  unhappiness  rather 
than  to  unhealthiness.  George,  however,  was  a  pru- 


'It!  The  Great  Treasure*       75 

dent  man,  too  prudent  to  catch  opportunity  at  its  call — 
too  prudent,  in  fact,  ever  to  achieve  success.  "  The 
humble  Nell  of  the  York  stage  "  was  too  humble  to 
draw  the  magic  declaration  from  him,  and  perhaps  her 
unhappiness  was  too  great  for  her  to  rise  above  it.  So 
Dorothy  gained  the  reputation  that  winter  of  being 
careless  and  inattentive  to  her  parts,  and  the  irritation 
of  the  audience  culminated  in  March  1785  when  a 
benefit  performance  was  given  of  Cymbeline,  followed 
by  The  Poor  Soldier,  and  she  was  billed  to  sing  a  song 
at  the  end  of  the  third  act  of  the  tragedy  and  to  play 
in  the  farce.  She  said  she  was  not  well,  and  she  evi- 
dently intended  to  lighten  the  evening's  work  by 
cutting  out  the  song  in  Cymbeline;  but  the  audience 
wanted  the  song,  they  refused  to  do  without  it;  they 
demanded  the  song  or  nothing — with  their  vengeance 
to  follow. 

Wilkinson  unsuccessfully  used  all  his  art  to  make 
his  actress  sing,  but,  as  he  said,  "  no  persuasion  would 
do.  Those  who  know  Mrs.  Jordan  must  know,  without 
the  least  offence,  she  is  very  obstinate,  she  may  be  led 
but  will  not  be  driven  on  the  stage  or  off,  unless  she 
is  in  the  humour." 

The  audience  were  even  more  obstinate  than  she ; 
they  reasoned  that  if  she  were  really  ill  she  would 
have  stayed  at  home  and  given  up  her  part  in  the  farce ; 
and  if  she  were  well  enough  to  play  and  sing  in  the 
farce,  she  could  also  sing  a  song  in  the  earlier  piece. 
Of  course  she  had  to  give  way,  for  she  had  no  wish  to 
create  a  riot,  so  at  last  she  staggered  on  to  the  stage, 
looking  frightfully  pale  and  already  dressed  as  the 
poor  soldier.  Telling  the  audience  she  was  ill,  she 
promptly  fainted  against  the  background.  The  seep- 


7 6     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ticism  in  front  was,  however,  proof  even  against  this, 
and  when  she  was  recovered  sufficiently  she  was 
obliged  to  sing — 

"  In  the  prattling  years  of  youth,"  etc. 

In  giving  his  personal  recollections  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
during  these  three  years  Tate  Wilkinson  is  very  apolo- 
getic— humorously  so,  for  he  published  his  Wandering 
Patentee  just  ten  years  later,  when  she  was  at  the 
height  of  her  fame,  and  he  might  well  have  thought 
that  he  was  telling  things  she  might  prefer  to  have 
kept  hidden.  At  one  point  he  says — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  has  more  sense  than  to  suppose,  in 
relating  these  transactions,  I  mean  any  more  than  to 
make  her  laugh  as  well  as  any  other  reader;  her  not 
being  so  affluent  at  the  time  I  am  making  mention 
reflects  not  the  least  disgrace,  as  she  never  can  shine 
more  in  her  days  of  prosperity  than  in  her  days  of 
affliction." 

But  he  had  practically  quarrelled  with  her  in  1791, 
four  years  before  the  book  came  out.  As  he  says  in 
another  part  of  it,  "  I  have  ever  entertained  a  regard 
for  Mrs.  Jordan,  but  speaking  the  truth,  I  trust,  will 
little  wrong  her;  we  have  often  been  very  strong 
friends,  and  as  often  at  whimsical  jarrings.  It  is  not 
only  in  1782  I  shall  have  the  honour  of  introducing  her, 
but  occasionally,  and  will  extend  to  1790,  and  then  I 
believe  I  made  my  rough  bow,  and  the  lady  not  any 
courtesy;  and  it  is  probable  that  we  shall  never  meet 
again." 

They  never  did  meet  again,  I  believe,  though 
Wilkinson  did  not  die  until  1803. 

In  the  summer  of  1785  the  great  chance  came  for 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"       77 

Dorothy;  for  Gentleman  Smith  had  never  forgotten 
the  girl  he  had  first  seen  acting  in  York  three  years 
before,  and  whom  he  had  made  a  point  of  watching 
every  race  week  in  that  town  since. 

Mrs.  Siddons  was  then  the  one  star  of  Drury  Lane, 
<rthe  great  Siddonian  Queen,"  as  one  of  her  admirers 
called  her,  and  there  seems  to  have  been  no  one  to  act 
as  understudy  to  her;  so  Smith  suggested  that  Mrs. 
Jordan  should  be  engaged  to  play  second  to  their 
incomparable  actress,  at  four  pounds  a  week. 

At  that  time  Dorothy  had  not  seen  Mrs.  Siddons, 
but  she  was  ready  to  go  to  London  on  almost  any 
terms,  for  she  had  now  been  working  three  years  in 
Yorkshire  for  a  little  wage,  and  she  found  that  in 
London  her  salary  could  be  more  than  doubled,  so 
the  arrangement  was  made  that  she  should  begin  her 
assault  of  London  in  the  autumn  of  1785.  As  to  her 
work  there  she  may  from  the  first  have  made  some 
mental  reservations,  for  the  desire  of  her  heart  was  to 
play  second  to  no  one,  not  even  to  Siddons. 

There  was  a  certain  play  written  by  Wycherley 
known  as  The  Country  Wife,  which  in  its  immorality 
and  wit  well  represented  the  somewhat  free  days  of  its 
original  production.  To  meet  the  demand  for  con- 
stant change  and  variety,  this  old  play  had  been 
revived  by  Garrick,  who,  seeing  its  dramatic  possibili- 
ties, changed  it  sufficiently  to  make  its  presentation 
possible  in  an  age  which  seemed  quite  as  pure  after 
the  licence  of  the  Restoration  period  as  that  age  itself 
seems  impure  to  the  increased  delicacy  of  our  own 
time. 

The  great  David,  after  his  pruning  exertions,  re- 
named it  The  Country  Girl,  and  brought  it  up  to  the 


78     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

level  of  his  usual  audience — not  a  particularly  high 
level,  for,  despite  the  Shakespearean  vogue,  rape  and 
adultery  were  the  stock  subjects  of  much  of  the 
popular  drama  of  the  time.  Oxberry  says  that 
Francis  Bland  was  responsible  for  a  re-revival  of  this 
play,  and  that  Grace  acted  in  it.  This  may  have  been, 
but  it  again  had  fallen  out  of  use  when,  in  1785,  an 
actress  named  Mrs.  Brown,  belonging  to  the  Norwich 
company,  took  it  to  York  in  April,  and  Dolly  watched 
its  performance  critically.  She  saw  greater  possibili- 
ties in  it  than  Mrs.  Brown  had  brought  out,  and  deter- 
mined to  make  the  play  her  own.  Though  she  had 
acted  since  her  first  days  in  Dublin  in  The  Romp,  she 
had  never  yet  identified  herself  with  farcical  comedy, 
but  was  considered  that  somewhat  colourless  person, 
a  good  all-round  actress,  with  especial  talent  for  senti- 
ment. Now  The  Country  Girl  woke  her  from  her 
lethargy,  and  she  began  to  lay  plans  for  her  future  in 
London. 

It  was  said  that  Mrs.  Brown  taught  Dorothy  Jordan 
how  to  play  the  part,  a  statement  upon  which  Wilkin- 
son throws  his  light  scorn  :  "  I  do  not  think  Mrs.  Brown 
had  a  wish  to  give  any  instructions,  nor  the  other  lady 
the  least  inclination  to  receive  them,  had  they  been 
offered;  each  held  the  abilities  of  the  other  in  the 
highest  contempt,  and  there  was  no  love  lost  between 
them." 

It  is  evident  from  all  accounts  that  Dorothy's  acting 
was  of  a  poor  quality  this  summer,  for  Mr.  Yates,  the 
husband  of  the  actress,  seeing  her  in  Yorkshire,  gave 
his  opinion  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  a  piece  of  theatrical 
mediocrity,  while  he  thought  Miss  Wilkinson,  who  had 
succeeded  in  getting  a  position  with  the  company,  both 


"It!  The  Great  Treasure"       79 

pleasing  and  promising,  and  Mrs.  Brown  as  the  height 
of  excellence.  Mrs.  Siddons,  too,  who  was  touring 
there  in  August,  and  doubtless  knew  that  this  young 
woman  was  to  be  her  "  second,"  gave  it  as  her  opinion 
that  Mrs.  Jordan  had  better  remain  where  she  was  and 
not  attempt  the  London  boards.  It  is  curious  to  note 
that  this  same  advice  was  given  to  Mrs.  Siddons 
herself  in  her  early  days  by  William  Woodfall,  the 
dramatic  critic,  for  he  thought  her  too  weak  for  the 
large  London  theatres,  and  recommended  her  to  keep 
to  small  houses  where  she  could  be  heard. 

The  struggle  for  life  was  so  bitter,  and  the  mental 
horizon  of  the  players  so  limited  that  their  quarrels — 
and  there  were  many — seem  often  to  have  verged  upon 
farce;  and  this  year  the  introduction  of  a  new  actress 
into  Wilkinson's  company,  a  Mrs.  Robinson,  later 
known  as  Mrs.  Taylor,  gave  a  delicious  example  of  the 
effects  of  jealousy.  It  was  at  Leeds  that  Wilkinson 
engaged  her,  recording  that  "  her  figure  in  small- 
clothes was  neat  to  perfection,"  and  probably  by  his 
favourable  impression  of  her  he  at  once  set  the  heart 
of  a  loving  mother  beating  with  anger.  For  Mrs. 
Bland  still  thought  her  daughter  possessed  of  the  very 
highest  attributes  of  her  art,  and  she  despised  any  one 
who  dared  to  strut  in  the  characters  that  she  regarded 
as  sacred  to  Dorothy.  As  a  new  actress  or  any  special 
occasion  would  draw  the  unoccupied  members  of  the 
company  to  show  their  curiosity  by  hanging  round  the 
doors  which  opened  on  to  the  stage,  Mrs.  Bland  one 
night  took  a  chair,  and  sitting  where  she  could  see 
everything  well,  watched  Mrs.  Robinson  perform. 
It  was  a  sight  which  saddened  her  almost  to  distrac- 
tion, and  when  the  manager  came  her  way  she  caught 


8o     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

him  by  the  coat,  and,  holding  her  apron  over  her  eyes, 
demanded  earnestly  that  he  would  tell  her,  as  an  act 
of  kindness,  when  that  fright  should  have  done  acting 
and  speaking,  for  it  was  so  horrid  that  she  could  not 
bear  to  look  at  it. 

Mrs.  Robinson  was  just  as  flattering  to  Dorothy; 
when  in  conversation  with  Wilkinson  one  evening  she 
wondered  how  he  could  say  that  Mrs.  Jordan  had  so 
much  merit;  for  her  own  part  she  could  not  discover 
that  she  had  any,  or,  if  any,  only  a  small  share,  and 
that  mediocre.  "  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  some 
judgment,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  when  you  lose 
your  great  treasure  in  the  autumn,  and  IT  goes  to 
London,  IT  will  be  glad  to  come  back  if  you  will 
accept  IT." 

That  Mrs.  Robinson  had  some  reason  for  her 
opinion  the  public  testified  when,  at  Dorothy's  benefit, 
which  occurred  on  July  25,  it  refused  to  attend,  the 
house  holding  but  a  sprinkling  of  people  to  see  her  act 
Imogen  in  Cymbeline,  and  Rachel  in  The  Fair 
American. 

With  nonchalant  weariness  Dorothy  trod  the  York 
boards  for  the  last  time  early  in  September,  and  made 
her  last  appearance  in  Yorkshire  as  a  member  of  Wil- 
kinson's company  at  Wakefield  on  the  ninth  of  that 
month  in  The  Poor  Soldier.  It  was  with  no  great  hope 
that  she  set  off  for  London,  for  life  and  acting  had 
staled  for  her;  she  was  sure  of  nothing,  not  even  of 
herself,  and  no  presentiment  of  what  was  to  come  shed 
any  glow  over  her  mind,  though  her  new  salary  of 
four  pounds  a  week  must  have  been  very  comforting 
in  anticipation. 


CHAPTER   V 

DOROTHY   AND   THE    BRITISH   PUBLIC 

"  Her  laughter  is  the  happiest  and  most  natural  thing  on  the  stage  ;  if 
she  is  to  laugh  in  the  middle  of  a  speech,  it  does  not  separate  itself  so 
abruptly  from  her  words  as  with  most  of  our  performers.  .  .  .  Her 
laughter  intermingles  itself  with  her  words  as  fresh  ideas  afford  her  fresh 
merriment,  she  does  not  so  much  indulge  as  she  seems  unable  to  help  it ; 
it  increases,  it  leSsens,  with  her  fancy,  and  when  you  expect  it  no  longer 
according  to  the  usual  habits  of  the  stage,  it  sparkles  forth  at  little 
intervals  as  recollection  revives  it,  like  flame  from  half- smothered  embers. 
This  is  the  laughter  of  the  feelings,  and  it  is  the  predominance  of  heart 
in  all  she  says  and  does  that  renders  her  the  most  delightful  actress  in 
the  Violante  of  The  Wonder,  the  Clara  of  Matrimony,  and  in  twenty 
other  characters."— LEIGH  HUNT. 

IN  September  1785  the  Elands  went  to  London,  the 
party  consisting  of  Mrs.  Bland,  Hester,  Dorothy  and 
the  little  Frances,  daughter  of  Daly.  There  is  no 
mention  of  a  brother  at  this  time,  the  report  being  that 
he  had  been  sent  to  school  and  college  by  his  father's 
relatives.  This,  however,  was  a  confusion  with  Mrs. 
Williams  and  Nathaniel,  for  George  was  with  his  sister 
all  the  time  they  were  in  Yorkshire,  though  she  may 
have  sent  him  to  school  later.  Henrietta  Street, 
Covent  Garden,  seems  to  have  been  the  first  London 
home  of  the  family. 

At  this  time  Mrs.  Siddons  was  the  one  great  actress 
at  Drury  Lane,  Miss  Farren  being  the  only  other  of 
note,  and  she  played  the  dainty  fine  lady  of  the  con- 
ventional type  to  perfection ;  but  there  was  no  one  to 
represent  farcical  comedy,  and,  indeed,  farcical 
comedy  was  not  in  favour.  Mrs.  Siddons  had  so 
accustomed  the  public  to  the  representations  of  death 

F  8l 


82     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  tragic  endings  that  people  went  to  the  theatre  to 
cry,  to  shudder  and  often  to  faint.  So  often  was  the 
last-named  luxury  indulged  in,  and  so  complimentary 
was  it  thought  to  be  to  the  chief  actress,  that  later  public 
mockery  was  made  of  it  in  bogus  advertisements,  as 
when  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Screech  announced  that  she  was 
well  known  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  having  had  the 
honour  of  fainting  for  a  great  tragic  actress  there  these 
ten  years  past,  where  she  flatters  herself  she  has  given 
ample  satisfaction,  etc.,  etc. 

Such  a  theatre  was  just  the  right  place  for  Dorothy 
Bland,  for  though  she  could  not  honestly  desire  to 
understudy  Mrs.  Siddons,  she  yet  had  the  capacity  to 
lighten  the  gloom  and  educate  the  theatre-loving 
London  to  a  greater  variety  of  taste.  She  was 
announced  in  the  papers  first  as  a  new  performer,  as 
thus  from  the  Morning  Post:  "  Mr.  Lawrence  and  two 
young  female  performers  were  to  have  come  out  in 
Philaster,  but  they  will  now  make  their  entries 
separately."  This  was  corrected  by  :  "  The  lady  who 
is  to  make  her  first  appearance  in  the  revived  Philaster 
is  not,  as  has  been  said,  a  dramatic  novice,  but  one 
initiated  in  every  mystery  of  the  scene.  Her  name  is 
Jordan." 

But  Dorothy  successfully  claimed  the  right  to 
choose  the  play  in  which  she  should  first  appear,  and 
flew  in  the  face  of  usage  by  demanding  to  make  her 
debut  as  Peggy  in  The  Country  Girl.  Eventually 
Tom  King,  the  nominal  manager,  and  Sheridan,  the 
lessee-manager,  agreed,  and  it  was  whispered  among 
theatrical  circles  that  they  decided  to  run  the  risk  of 
introducing  her  in  farcical  comedy  because  their  great 
star  was  too  high  fixed  for  them.  Her  haughtiness 


DOROTHY  JORDAN    AS    PEGGY    IN    THE  COUNTRY  GIRL 
AFTER    ROMNEY,    F.NORAVKI)    BY  J.   OC.BORNE,    1786 


Dorothy  and  the  British   Public     83 

offended  all,  and  those  with  whom  she  acted  were  in 
the  humiliating  position  of  being  made  to  feel  it  an 
honour  to  act  with  her.  It  may  have  been  manner 
only,  but  Mrs.  Siddons  seemed  never  to  have  been 
able  to  forget  either  her  talent  or  her  virtue.  Thus 
proprietor,  managers,  actors  all  had  a  score  up  against 
her,  and  felt  that  the  only  method  of  holding  their 
own  was  to  make  an  attack  from  within.  So  on 
Gentleman  Smith's  recommendation  Dorothy  was 
allowed  innocently  to  take  the  position  of  chief 
attacker. 

The  chosen  night  was  October  18,  1785,  a  day  of 
mingled  hopes  and  fears  for  the  young  actress, 
followed  by  deadly  nervousness,  but  once  on  the  stage 
she  became  totally  unconscious  of  all  but  the  part  she 
had  to  play. 

The  house  was  not  good — for  fashionable  people 
would  not  go  to  see  an  unknown  actress — and  the 
criticisms  of  the  following  morning  were  varied,  a  few 
bad,  but  mostly  good.  "  Mrs.  Jordan  was  vulgar," 
said  one,  she  might  do  as  "  Filch  in  The  Beggars' 
Opera"  said  Harris  of  Covent  Garden,  to  which  an 
enthusiast  retorted,  "  Certainly,  for  she  filches  our 
hearts  away." 

Henry  Tremamondo,  better  known  as  Henry 
Angelo,  was  present  that  evening,  and  says  of  it  in 
his  Reminiscences:  "  The  first  night  of  Mrs.  Jordan's 
appearance  at  Drury  Lane,  as  Peggy  in  The  Country 
Girl,  I  was  in  the  balcony  box,  over  the  stage,  in  com- 
pany with  Parson  Bate  and  Duffer  Vaughan,  .  .  . 
at  the  time  they  were  so  delighted  with  her  debut, 
that  they  both  decided  on  her  future  excellence, 
particularly  Mr.  Bate,  whose  critique  the  next  morn- 


84     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ing,  in  the  Morning  Herald,  speaking  of  her  per- 
fections, '  true  to  nature,'  foretold  her  future  abilities." 

One  paragraph  of  Mr.  Bate's  criticism  gives  some 
idea  of  Dorothy's  appearance  :  "  She  is  universally 
allowed  to  possess  a  figure,  small  perhaps,  but  neat 
and  elegant,  as  was  remarkably  conspicuous  when  she 
was  dressed  as  a  boy  in  the  third  act.  Her  face,  if 
not  beautiful,  is  said  by  some  to  be  pretty  and  by  some 
pleasing,  intelligent  or  impressive.  Her  voice,  if  not 
peculiarly  sweet,  is  not  harsh,  if  not  strong,  is  clear 
and  equal  to  the  extent  of  the  theatre.  She  has  much 
activeness,  and  gave  every  point  of  the  dialogue  with 
the  most  comic  effect,  and  improved  to  the  uttermost 
all  the  ludicrous  situations  with  which  The  Country 
Girl  abounds.  From  such  premises  there  is  and  can 
be  but  one  conclusion,  that  she  is  a  most  valuable 
acquisition  to  the  public  stock  of  innocent  enter- 
tainment." 

It  was  six  nights  before  Dorothy  again  acted,  for 
Mrs.  Siddons  expecting  the  birth  of  a  child  in  mid- 
winter, was  taking  every  night  that  she  could  at  the 
theatre  so  as  to  fulfil  her  contract  and  yet  have  two  or 
three  months'  rest.  But  each  time  Dolly  played  the 
audience  was  larger,  and  before  the  winter  was  over 
there  was  a  line  of  carriages  stretching  through  the 
streets  around  Drury  Lane  such  as  had  been  regarded 
as  a  tribute  solely  to  the  powers  of  Mrs.  Siddons.  As 
soon  as  her  success  was  assured  paeans  of  praise  were 
heard :  "  Perhaps  no  debut,  except  that  of  young 
Roscius,  has  excited  so  great  a  sensation  in  the  dramatic 
world,"  said  a  writer  in  the  Dramatic  Magazine,  well 
after  the  event;  and  others  did  the  same,  giving 
accounts  which,  though  quite  true  of  the  real  result, 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     85 

were  not  true  of  the  first  night.  Mrs.  Inchbald,  who 
had  met  Dorothy  again  and  again,  and  later  wrote 
one  or  two  plays  for  her,  said  that  "  She  came  to  town 
with  no  report  in  her  favour  to  elevate  her  above  a 
very  moderate  salary  or  to  attract  more  than  a  very 
moderate  house.  But  she  displayed  such  consummate 
art,  with  such  bewitching  good  nature,  such  excellent 
acting  and  such  innocent  simplicity,  that  her  auditors 
were  boundless  in  their  plaudits  and  so  warm  in  their 
praises  when  they  left  the  theatre,  that  their  friends 
at  home  would  not  give  credit  to  their  eulogies."  She 
went  on  to  say  that  Dorothy's  pronunciation  was  im- 
perfect and  that  most  of  her  words  were  pronounced 
with  a  kind  of  provincial  dialect,  a  remark  which 
annoyed  Boaden  very  much,  and  he  retorted  in  his 
Life  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  guided  by  the  principle 
of  giving  to  certain  words  a  fullness  and  comic  rich- 
ness, which  rendered  them  most  truly  representative 
of  the  ideas  they  stood  for ;  "  it  was  expressing  all  the 
juice  from  the  grape  of  the  laughing  vine.  To  instance 
once  for  all :  she  knew  the  importance  attached  to  a 
best  gown.  Let  the  reader  recollect  the  full  volume 
of  sound  which  she  threw  into  those  words,  and  he  will 
understand  me.  It  was  not  provincial  dialect,  it  was 
humorous  delivery,  arid  as  a  charm  only  inferior  to 
her  laugh." 

To  this  may  be  added  what  Gait  said  in  his  refuta- 
tion of  the  idea  that  Mrs.  Brown  taught  Dorothy  to 
act  in  this  piece.  '  The  elastic  step,  the  artless  action, 
the  sincere  laugh,  and,  if  the  expression  can  be  used, 
the  juicy  tones  of  her  clear  and  melodious  voice,  so 
peculiar  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  could  never  have  been 
attained  by  studying  any  other.  The  manner  in  which 


86     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

she  used  to  pronounce  the  single  word  '  Ecod !  '  was 
as  if  she  had  taken  a  mouthful  of  some  ripe  and 
delicious  peach." 

This  curious  simile  of  luscious  fruit  was  indulged  in 
by  Hazlitt  when  he  criticized  King's  acting  in  later 
life,  which  he  said  left  "  a  taste  in  the  palate  sharp 
and  sweet  like  a  peach;  with  an  old,  hard,  rough, 
withered  face,  like  a  John-apple,  puckered  up  into  a 
thousand  wrinkles,  with  shrewd  hints  and  tart  replies." 

As  Covent  Garden  and  Drury  Lane  Theatres  were 
each  anxiously  trying  to  outdo  the  other,  the  former 
theatre  introduced  Miss  Brunton  in  Dorothy's  line, 
and  for  a  short  space  there  was  discussion  as  to  which 
of  the  two  actresses  was  the  better.  Then  near  the 
end  of  January  Mrs.  Brown  was  brought  up  from 
Norwich  by  Harris  to  act  The  Country  Girl  before  a 
London  audience.  But  success  did  not  attend  his 
effort,  for  not  only  were  the  two  actresses  quite  differ- 
ent, but  their  acting  was  quite  different  also,  and 
Dorothy  had  the  gorgeous  quality  of  youth :  the 
laughter,  the  innocence,  the  ingenuous  air  all  seemed 
real ;  while  Mrs.  Brown  was  a  matron  "  long  past  the 
season  in  which  alone  the  hoyden  can  look  natural 
and  prove  attractive." 

The  critics  were  constantly  comparing  Dorothy  with 
Peg  Woffington  and  Kitty  Clive,  and,  indeed,  since 
the  retirement  of  the  latter  there  had  been  no  actress 
on  the  boards  who  could  wring  a  hearty  laugh  from 
the  audience. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  on  the  6th  of  December,  two 
months  after  Dorothy's  debut  in  London,  Mrs.  Clive 
died  at  Strawberry  Hill,  and  Horace  Walpole,  who 
did  not  think  that  any  one  could  equal  her  in  her 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     87 

particular  style,  put  a  memorial  urn  in  her  cottage 
garden,  having  inscribed  upon  it — 

"This  is  Mirth's  consecrated  ground. 
Here  lived  the  laughter-loving  dame — 
A  matchless  actress — Clive  her  name. 
The  comic  muse  with  her  retired 
And  shed  a  tear  when  she  expired." 

To  this  Peter  Pindar  (Dr.  Wolcot),  who  was  a 
devoted  admirer  of  Dorothy  Jordan,  retorted — 

"  Know  Comedy  is  hearty — all  alive, 

Truth  and  thy  trumpet  seem  not  to  agree  ; 
The  spritely  lass  no  more  expired  with  Clive, 
Than  Dame  Humility  will  do  with  thee." 

To  sum  up  the  results  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  early  appear- 
ance in  London,  both  critics  and  actors  were  unani- 
mous in  declaring  her  a  force  on  the  boards.  Bannister 
was  enthusiastic,  Sheridan  was  joyful,  and  King, 
though  no  admirer  of  her  style,  foresaw  new  life  and 
new  prosperity  for  the  theatre  which  he  had  served 
so  long;  its  affairs  were  in  such  a  condition  that  any 
one  who  could  bring  gold  to  its  coffers  was  heartily 
welcomed  by  the  harried  sub-manager.  Sheridan  was 
the  real  despot,  but  he  had  far  too  many  arduous 
occupations  not  to  need  some  one  to  do  the  work  and 
receive  the  kicks  of  fortune  for  him. 

As  for  Dorothy  herself  she  started  with  £4  a  week, 
and  in  a  few  days  was  promised  £8.  Poverty  had  not 
blinded  her  to  her  own  merit,  and  when  she  saw  how 
thoroughly  she  had  dragged  Drury  Lane  out  of  its 
sluggish  despondency  she  asked  a  further  rise,  and 
after  some  discussion  another  £4  a  week  was  added 
to  her  receipts.  Physical  strength  and  hope  had 
returned,  she  seemed  to  be  on  the  top  of  the  wave,  and 
enjoyed  the  position.  It  is  not  necessary  or  interesting 
to  go  through  a  list  of  the  parts  she  played,  except 


The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

where  they  did  something  more  than  fill  the  theatre 
or  put  money  in  her  pocket.  But  one  of  the  pieces 
which  added  to  her  fame  this  winter  was  The  Trip  to 
Scarborough,  which  was  an  expurgated  edition  of  Sir 
John  Vanburgh's  Relapse,  also  prepared  by  Sheridan. 

This  play  was  hardly  as  refined  as  might  be  wished, 
one  prominent  character  being  Sir  Tunbelly  Clumsy, 
whose  name  alone  implies  grossness.  Mrs.  Jordan 
took  the  part  of  his  daughter,  the  joyous,  rustic  Miss 
Hoyden,  showing  in  all  its  perfection  the  kind  of  young 
lady  who  has  left  the  nursery  without  being  old  enough 
to  appear  in  the  drawing-room,  who  felt  the  sentiments 
of  a  woman  while  still  retaining  the  petulance  and  way- 
wardness of  a  child.  Her  dress  in  this  character  was 
described  by  Mrs.  Tickell — sister  to  Mr.  Sheridan — 
as  x  "A  blue  ground  with  red  flowers  upon  it,  in  the 
shape  of  a  slip,  but  evidently  ill  made  on  purpose  and 
too  scanty  by  a  breadth  or  two.  Her  bib  or  apron  had 
scarcely  a  pin,  a  pair  of  long  gauze  ruffles,  the  under 
part  before,  and  continually  slipping  below  her  elbows, 
with  a  very  vulgar  cap  all  on  one  side." 

In  the  character  of  Miss  Hoyden  Dorothy  Jordan 
won  fame,  and  kept  it.  Yet  in  this  part  she  never 
quite  rivalled  herself  in  that  other  popular  character 
of  Miss  Tomboy  in  The  Romp,  the  farce  in  which  she 
acted  in  Dublin  and  which  Kitty  Clive  had  so 
identified  with  her  own  name.  It  was  in  this  character 
that  Romney  painted  his  beautiful  picture  of  her,  and 
it  was  declared  that  this  part  alone  stamped  her  as  an 
actress  as  great  in  her  own  way  as  Mrs.  Siddons  was 
in  hers. 

A  curious  result  of  Dorothy's  first  autumn  in  town 
was  that  the  tragedy  queen  was  touched  to  the  heart 

1  Sheridan,  by  Walter  Sichel. 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     89 

by  the  girl's  success,  and  at  the  end  of  October  it  was 
announced  that  she  intended  to  appear  in  comedy,  and 
"to  render  Thalia  as  fashionable  as  Melpomene." 
This  was  when  Dorothy  had  acted  only  three  times, 
and  Mrs.  Siddons's  autocratic  mind  here  showed  itself ; 
it  was  as  though  she  said  :  "  An  unimportant  new 
person  has  come  here  to  make  the  world  laugh,  so  I 
will  show  how  it  should  be  done."  Mrs.  Siddons 
could  brook  no  rival  near  her  throne,  but — alas,  for 
her  pride — as  one  of  her  daughters  was  born  at  the 
end  of  December  she  had  to  leave  Dorothy  supreme 
at  Drury  Lane.  When  she  returned  in  February  she 
found  little  pleasure  awaiting  her,  for  tragedy  at  Drury 
Lane  had  been  worn  down  by  endless  repetition,  and 
the  public,  delighted  with  its  new  sensation,  reserved 
its  enjoyment  and  its  money  for  the  comedy  which 
Jordan  offered  them.  That  she  might  attract  by 
novelty,  Mrs.  Siddons  revived  the  somewhat  feeble 
tragedy  of  Percy >  and  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
played  her  original  trial  part  of  Portia. 

Dorothy  was  acting  so  constantly  that  The  Public 
Advertiser  remarked  :  '  That  charming,  endearing, 
beautiful,  little,  accomplished  actress,  Mrs.  Jordan, 
makes  us  suffer  more  than  we  can  describe,  as  we  are 
always  desirous  to  see  her,  and  yet  cannot  help  wish- 
ing her  a  rest  from  her  fatigues.  It  is  said  that  an 
application  will  be  made  to  Parliament  for  leave  of 
absence  for  a  fortnight."  She  had  two  benefits  in  the 
spring,  at  one  of  which  she  played  the  Irish  Widow, 
such  an  audience  being  collected  as  had  been  very 
seldom  seen.  Her  triumph  was  increased  by  the  fact 
that  the  members  of  Brooks's  Club  presented  her  with 
a  purse  containing  £300.  Another  character  which 
was  very  popular  was  her  Hypolita  in  She  Would 


90     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  She  Would  Not,  of  which  she  said  in  1814  when 
some  one  told  her  of  the  pleasure  experienced  in 
seeing  her  in  it :  "  Aye,  that  was  one  of  the  parts  on 
which  I  used  to  pique  myself." 

Her  labours  had  been  so  great  that  on  May  25  the 
management  gave  her  the  last  fortnight  of  the  season 
as  a  holiday,  and  she  immediately  went  for  a  few 
nights  to  Manchester,  then  to  Liverpool  and  Birming- 
ham; after  which  she  took  Leeds  on  her  way  to 
Edinburgh,  where  she  appeared  on  July  17. 

Her  success  had  been  equal  to  her  energy,  it  had 
even  been  great  enough  for  George  Inchbald,  who 
came  up  to  London  that  spring,  filled  with  the  warmest 
protestations  of  love,  and  thinking  to  find  again  the 
Dorothy  Jordan  he  had  deliberately  let  out  of  his 
reach.  On  arriving  at  her  house  he  sent  up  his  card, 
and  was  admitted  only  to  learn  that  the  past  was  past 
and  could  never  be  recalled,  or,  as  one  chronicler  puts 
it :  "  That  he  was  always  welcome  to  a  knife  and  fork, 
but  that  nothing  farther  could  thereafter  be  thought 
of  seriously."  There  is  no  real  record  that  this  first 
season  in  London  drew  to  Dorothy's  side  any  admirer 
more  devoted  than  the  general  flock,  yet  there  is  at 
least  the  suspicion  that  she  may  have  fallen  to  the 
level  of  the  parts  she  reproduced,  and  have  taken  a 
lover,  whose  name  was  Bettesworth. 

Posting  from  Birmingham  to  Scotland  she  could  not 
resist  the  delight  of  going  back  to  old  haunts  to  flaunt 
her  new  importance  before  that  varied  company  in 
which  she  had  suffered  so  many  pinpricks  from  jealous 
comrades. 

Mrs.  Robinson,  the  graceful  and  neat,  was  still 
there,  and  mischievous  fate  must  have  been  in  her 
most  ironic  mood  when  she  allowed  Dorothy's  arrival 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     91 

at  Leeds  on  her  way  to  Edinburgh  to  coincide  with 
the  benefit  of  the  lady  who  had  expressed  so  disdain- 
ful and  pitying  an  opinion  of  the  Jordan's  powers. 
It  was  on  the  night  of  June  16,  1786,  that  Mrs.  Robin- 
son disported  herself  as  Horatio  in  The  Roman  Father 
and  Widow  Brady  in  the  farce  of  The  Irish  Widow. 
The  house  was  not  good,  indeed  very  inferior  to  that 
on  her  benefit  the  year  before,  when  Mrs.  Jordan  was 
in  the  company.  This  was  depressing  enough  in  it- 
self, but  when,  early  in  the  evening,  Mrs.  Robinson 
heard  a  murmur  in  the  audience,  and  looking  for  the 
cause  saw  Mrs.  Jordan  attended  by  her  mother  and 
sister  in  one  of  the  boxes,  she  felt  that  fate  had  indeed 
dealt  hardly  with  her.  Dorothy  carefully  ensured  the 
attention  of  the  house  by  her  prominence,  for  now  was 
her  triumph  not  only  over  the  rival  of  last  year,  but 
over  the  audience  which  had  turned  away  from  her  at 
the  same  time.  Now  she,  whom  every  one  had  re- 
garded as  Mrs.  Nobody,  was  Mrs.  Somebody,  and 
quite  naturally  she  wanted  to  enjoy  the  fun  that  the 
old  bitterness  might  be  banished  from  her  memory. 
Having  well  preened  herself  in  the  eyes  of  the  cheer- 
ing people — for  her  fame  had  spread  "  to  the  North 
Pole  and  excited  offers  of  bewitching  golden  fire " 
— she  condescended  to  go  behind  scenes  that  she 
might  greet  her  old  manager,  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances and  ask  them  how  they  all  did,  "  and  not  with- 
out an  additional  grace  of  an  alluring  nod  and  smile, 
which  had  been  purchased  at  the  London  market  of 
fashion,  during  a  whole  winter's  residence  of  good 
luck,  fortune  and  everything  that  was  enviable." 
Even  the  humorous  and  kindly  Wilkinson  was  not 
proof  against  the  jealousy  which  Jordan's  success  had 
raised  in  the  hearts  of  those  of  her  old  set,  for  the 


92     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

last  sentence  is  his.  That  Dorothy  enjoyed  this  little 
triumph  is  doubtless,  but  that  her  only  emotion  on 
being  back  in  the  scenes  among  which  she  had  spent 
over  three  years  of  her  life,  and  among  people  from 
whom  she  had  experienced  much  kindness — if  some 
annoyance — should  have  been  a  condescending  ex- 
hibition of  her  own  self-importance  was  not  possible 
to  one  of  her  ardent  and  generous  temperament. 
Wilkinson  could  never  resist  writing  for  effect,  and 
also  he  did  in  this  case  read  too  much  of  his  own 
suspicions  into  her  conduct. 

His  description  of  her  effective  but  wordless  inter- 
view with  Mrs.  Robinson  on  the  stage  is  pure  farce, 
and,  however  much  exaggerated,  makes  too  good  a 
story  not  to  be  given  in  his  own  words.  Mrs.  Jordan 
went  to  an  opening  on  the  stage  to  watch  the  play, 
and  stood  in  such  fashion  that  she  could  be  seen  by 
the  audience.  "  In  short,  by  slow  degrees  she 
advanced  so  far  on  the  stage,  that  at  the  fist-hold  of 
her  sister's  arm  she  was  at  the  very  edge  of  the  wing 
on  the  stage  part;  this  was  during  the  small  clothes 
scene  in  The  Irish  Widow  in  the  last  act  of  that  farce. 
This  enraged  the  Widow  Robinson  to  a  degree.  .  .  . 
She,  however,  kept  up  her  spirits  to  let  the  Jordan 
see  how  well  she  could  act,  and  with  a  sneer  not  the 
gentlest  darted  a  glance  at  the  Jordan,  insinuating, 
'  Can  you  act  like  this  ? '  The  other,  with  all  the 
nonchalance  of  fashion,  said  a  great  deal  without 
speaking  even  a  word,  for  her  gestures  and  pantomime 
actions  were  inimitable ;  and  as  she  leant  on  her  sister, 
she  pointed  at  Widow  Brady's  buckles,  then  at  her 
figure,  next  with  a  shrug  signifying  that  the  whole  was 
intolerable,  and  at  last,  after  giving  the  torture  in  an 
elegant  and  truly  significant  manner,  she  gave  her  a 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     93 

last  look  and  turned  away  with  the  grandest  contempt 
and  hauteur.  Now  it  may  be  asked  why  I  did  not 
prevail  on  Mrs.  Jordan  to  quit  so  improper  a  situation 
for  herself,  and  cruel  to  a  degree,  as  Mrs.  J.'s  marks 
of  disapprobation  were  of  great  consequence  in 
the  minds  of  many  that  year,  though  the  effect  might 
have  been  widely  different  the  year  before.  But  in 
answer,  it  is  probable  that  my  request  would  not  have 
been  complied  with,  for  the  manager  she  had  looked 
up  to  was  no  longer  the  man  of  terror  and  command, 
but  then  looked  down  upon  if  he  dared  to  assume 
authority;  and  another  hidden  reason  might  be  the 
cause,  had  my  desire  of  her  quitting  so  conspicuous  a 
situation  been  complied  with,  it  might  not  have  given 
me  the  ill-natured  satisfaction  I  enjoyed,  for  Mrs. 
Robinson  had  quarrelled  violently  with  me  the  day 
before,  and  as  I  love  a  little  mischief — it  is  in  my 
nature,  and  oh,  Nature  !  Nature  !  who  can  stop  thy 
course?  I  felt  for  Mrs.  Robinson,  yet  at  the  same 
time  I  immoderately  chuckled  at  the  mischief  I  wit- 
nessed going  forward.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Robinson  had  fore- 
told that  Mrs.  Jordan  would  be  back  with  me  before 
twelve  months  were  gone  and  over,  and  so  far  her  gift 
of  double  sight  was  verified  (so  were  the  witches' 
prophecies  in  Macbeth],  but  not  as  either  Mrs.  Robin- 
son or  Mr.  Wilkinson  expected,  for  instead  of  the 
suppliant  she  came  splish,  splash,  dish,  dash,  to  the 
Leeds  play-house,  and  tassles  dangling,  etc.  Oh,  it  is 
a  charming  thing  to  be  a  woman  of  quality !  And  in 
lieu  of  her  asking  me  for  an  engagement,  the  case  was 
so  greatly  altered,  for  I  was  obliged  to  solicit  the  lady 
who  formerly  solicited  me,  and  it  was  no  more  than 
a  comic  adventure  between  us  three,  like  a  party  of 
pleasure  at  a  quadrille,  where  all  should  play  and  pay 


94     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

alike.  '  Ay,  but,'  says  Mrs.  Robinson,  '  you  have  made 
me  at  this  game  pay  more  than  my  share.'  Well,  Mrs. 
Robinson,  never  mind  it,  I  will  pay  two-thirds  at  our 
next  meeting  to  clear  the  debt;  I  am  a  rich  man  in 
that  respect,  and  will  deal  most  cheerfully  and 
liberally,  and  I  hope  this  nonsense  will  be  read  by  the 
two  ladies,  as  I  mean  it  whimsically  and  for  us  all  three 
to  laugh  at."  In  such  an  account,  "  whimsical,"  as  it 
may  have  been,  we  get  an  impression  of  reality.  Here 
are  the  real  people,  with  no  attempt  on  the  writer's 
part  either  at  whitewashing  or  at  be-littling.  Dorothy 
Jordan  was  no  saint,  yet  some  of  her  biographers  have 
tried  to  glorify  her  into  something  other  and  less  than 
she  was,  thus  in  The  Great  Illegitimates  we  are  told 
that  she  went  behind  the  scenes  and,  "  with  her  accus- 
tomed sweetness  of  temper,  renewed  acquaintance  with 
her  former  associates  "  !  Mrs.  Robinson  must  have 
prayed  devoutly  to  be  delivered  from  any  further  taste 
of  such  sweetness.  She  probably  also  prayed  for 
revenge,  and  that  prayer  was  heard. 

That  night  Tate  begged  the  actress  who  a  year  ago 
had  been  earning  £i  us.  6d.  a  week  under  his  care 
to  play  one  night  for  him.  She  was  quite  willing,  but 
she  dictated  her  own  terms,  which  were  half  shares 
after  £15  had  been  deducted  for  house  expenses. 
This  he  instantly  agreed  to,  not  that  he  expected  a 
great  profit  either  for  Mrs.  Jordan  or  for  himself;  but 
that  he  thought  it  would  do  him  good  in  the  public 
estimation  to  show  her  again  on  his  boards.  Her 
acting  was  well  known  in  a  town  where  she  had  played 
for  four  consecutive  summers,  and  her  last  benefit  had 
been  quite  neglected,  so  that  except  for  the  kudos  the 
genial  manager  only  expected  an  ordinary  night. 

She  played  The  Country  Girl,  which  was  new  to 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     95 

Leeds,  and  The  Romp,  which  was  known  almost  to 
weariness;  but  to  Wilkinson's  astonishment  the  house 
was  overflowing  before  the  curtains  were  drawn. 
Seven  rows  of  the  pit  "were  laid  into  the  boxes  to 
greet  her  return,"  which  was  rather  hard  on  the  pittites. 
"  What  is  to  be  said  for  these  things?  Why,  nothing, 
for  it  never  was  strange  that  the  world  should  be 
whimsical." 

At  Edinburgh,  where  her  brother  George  accom- 
panied her,  though  Wilkinson  does  not  mention  him 
in  Leeds,  Dorothy  found  her  uncle  John  in  the  part  of 
treasurer  to  the  Theatre  Royal,  a  man  then  over  sixty ; 
and  when  she  acted  Peggy  in  The  Country  Girl  her 
aunt  took  the  part  of  Lucy  and  her  cousin,  John's 
eldest  son,  was  Belville.  Dolly,  with  her  keen  family 
instincts,  must  have  enjoyed  this  unusual  meeting 
with  real  relatives,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  elder 
family  were  gratified  by  meeting  and  acting  with  one 
who  was  on  the  high  road  to  success. 

John  Bland,  the  elder,  having  gone  to  Edinburgh 
in  1766  to  visit  some  relatives,  lent  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  Ross,  the  manager,  and  put  £1600  in  the 
theatre.  Thus  he  had  sufficient  interest  to  remain  in 
the  town,  and  in  1772  he  joined  West  Digges  as  co- 
lessee  of  the  theatre.  It  was  not  a  fortunate  engage- 
ment, for  the  latter  got  into  great  difficulties,  was 
thrown  into  prison,  and  escaped,  owing  his  comrade 
£1300.  The  theatre  was  left  in  Eland's  hands,  and 
swallowed  everything  else  that  he  had.  So  that  at 
last  he  had  to  close  it  from  sheer  inability  to  keep  it 
going;  but  when  Jackson,  the  next  proprietor,  took  it 
he  became  treasurer. 

There  are  many  stories  of  John  Eland's  absence  of 
mind  concerning  the  way  in  which  he  used  to  forget 


96     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

what  part  he  was  acting.  On  one  such  occasion  he 
told  the  audience  that  "  he  vowed  to  his  God  he  could 
not  say  how  this  happened,  for  he  could  appeal  to 
Nancy  that  he  had  repeated  the  part  to  her  that  morn- 
ing as  perfect  as  an  angel."  Once,  when  the  audience 
was  so  small  that  it  was  decided  to  return  the  money, 
he  came  forward  on  the  stage,  saying — 

"Ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  there  is  not  a  soul  in 
this  house  worth  playing  to,  this  play  will  be  repeated 
to-morrow." 

I  find  that  he,  his  wife,  his  eldest  son  and  his  son 
John  were  acting  for  years  on  the  Edinburgh  boards, 
and  that  they  acted  with  Dorothy  every  time  she  went 
there  until  1792,  when  John,  the  elder's  name,  seems 
to  have  been  withdrawn.  John  Bland  had  the  lovable 
qualities  of  his  family  and  more  than  his  share  of 
general  capacity,  for  he  wrote  a  novel  which  was  well 
reviewed,  entitled  Frederick  the  Forsaken,  suggested 
perhaps  by  his  own  life,  and  he  was  also  the  author  of 
the  Edinburgh  Rosciad  as  well  as  other  publications. 
He  died  in  1808,  and  Carlisle  says  an  annual  sub- 
scription for  his  support  was  sent  him  from  his  family 
for  some  years  previous  to  his  death.  So  a  moiety  of 
the  plenty  which  should  have  been  his  through  life 
was  grudgingly  doled  to  him  at  the  last  to  keep  him 
from  death. 

Perhaps  if  he,  "  a  brave,  proud,  generous,  affable, 
friendly,  honest,  unthinking  man,"  1  had  had  a  touch 
of  his  father's  hardness  of  character  as  the  strengthen- 
ing alloy  to  so  much  gold,  his  life  would  have  been 
more  successful. 

In  Edinburgh  Dorothy  had  a  great  welcome,  for 

1  Hibernian,  Magazine. 


Dorothy  and  the  British  Public     97 

this  was  her  first  appearance  in  Scotland ;  but  though 
the  excitement  over  her  acting  was  considerable,  the 
newspapers  gave  her  little  notice,  because  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons  was  there  regarded  as  the  only  great  woman  actor, 
and  the  taste  of  the  day  had  got  well  settled  down  to 
tragedy.  It  needed  custom  and  usage  to  persuade  the 
business-like  Scot  that  Miss  Tomboy  and  Dorothy's 
other  characters  were  not  over-frivolous. 

But  "  Thalia,"  a  name  by  which  her  admirers  had 
already  begun  to  ennoble  her,  was  well  content  with 
her  reception,  and  on  the  6th  of  August,  when  she 
played  Mrs.  Cowley's  Belle's  Stratagem  for  her 
benefit,  she  delivered  an  epilogue  which  she  had 
written  herself,  one  which,  if  somewhat  lacking  in 
metrical  excellence,  is  graceful  enough  in  sentiment 
to  merit  repetition. 

"  Presumption  'tis,  in  learning's  seat, 
For  me  the  Muses  to  entreat ; 
Yet,  bold  as  the  attempt  may  be, 
I'll  mount  the  steed  of  poesy ; 
And  as  my  Pegasus  is  small, 
If  stumbling,  I've  not  far  to  fall. 

Hear  then,  ye  Nine  !  the  boon  I  ask, 
While  (throwing  off  the  comic  mask) 
With  gratitude  I  here  confess 
How  much  you've  heightened  my  success. 

By  sealing  thus  my  sentence  now, 
You've  heaped  new  laurels  on  my  brow ; 
Nor  is  the  Northern  sprig  less  green, 
Than  that  which  in  the  South  was  seen  ; 
For  though  your  sun  may  colder  be, 
Your  hearts  I've  found  as  warm  for  me. 

One  wreath  I  only  gained  before, 
But  your  kind  candour  gives  me  more  ; 
And,  like  your  union,  both  combine 
To  make  the  garland  brighter  shine. 

'Tis  true  such  planets  *  sparkled  here 
As  make  me  tremble  to  appear ; — 

1  An  allusion  to  Mrs.  Siddons. 


98     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

A  twinkling  star,  just  come  in  sight, 

Which,  towards  the  pole,  would  give  no  light. 

Melpomene  has  made  such  work, 
Reigning  despotic  like  the  Turk ; 
I  feared  Thalia  had  no  chance 
Her  laughing  standard  to  advance  ; 
But  yet  her  youngest  ensign,  I 
Took  courage,  was  resolved  to  try, 
And  stand  the  hazard  of  the  die. 

Since  then  the  venturous  game  I've  tried, 

With  Nature  only  for  my  guide  ; 

The  bets  if  fairly  won  I'll  take 

Nor  wish  to  make  it  my  last  stake." 

From  Edinburgh  she  went  to  .Glasgow,  and  there 
the  audiences  were  so  delighted  that  they  presented 
her  with  a  gold  medal,  bearing  an  inscription  on  one 
side  with  the  Glasgow  arms,  a  tree,  and  a  verse  on  the 
other  side  with  a  feather  above  it.  The  first  ran — 

"TO    MRS.   JORDAN. 

"  MADAM, — Accept  this  trifle  from  the  Glasgow  audience,  who  are  as 
great  admirers  of  genius  as  the  critics  of  Edinburgh." 

The  verse  was  as  follows — 

"Bays  from  our  tree  you  could  not  gather, 

No  branch  of  it  deserves  that  name ; 
So  take  it  all,  call  it  a  feather, 
And  place  it  in  your  cap  of  fame." 

On  her  return  journey  in  September  she  played  at 
Hull  and  Wakefield,  and  at  the  latter  place  experi- 
enced a  shock,  for  the  Wakefield  people  were  angry 
with  Tate  Wilkinson  because  he  had  brought  Mrs. 
Siddons  there  for  only  one  night  and  then  taken  her 
for  a  week  to  Leeds ;  therefore  they  turned  their  backs 
upon  his  theatre  and  upon  Dorothy.  Wilkinson  him- 
self explains  the  incident  thus :  "  Melpomene's  bowl 
and  dagger  having  left  such  an  awful  gloom,  that  even 
Thalia  could  not  laugh,  or,  if  she  did,  it  was  very 
mortifying,  as  it  was  to  herself  almost  without 
company  or  any  throng  of  visitors." 


CHAPTER    VI 

RIVALRY    AND    LOVE 

"  CUPID  to  HYMEN. 

Thou  bane  to  my  empire,  thou  spring  o    contest, 
Thou  source  of  all  discord,  thou  period  to  rest ; 
Instruct  me  what  wretches  in  bondage  can  see, 
That  the  aim  of  their  life  is  still  pointed  to  thee. 

"HYMEN  to  CUPID. 

Instruct  me,  thou  little  impertinent  god, 

From  whence  all  thy  subjects  have  taken  the  mode 

To  grow  fond  of  a  change,  to  whatever  it  be, 

And  I'll  tell  thee  why  those  would  be  bound  who  are  free. 

VANBRUGH,  The  Relapse. 

IN  September  1786,  Dorothy  made  a  great  impres- 
sion upon  the  public  as  Matilda  in  the  curious  play 
of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  curious  because  General 
Burgoyne,  who  adapted  it  from  the  French  play  of 
Sedane,  made  Matilda  and  Blondel  one  and  the  same 
person,  thus  giving  greater  scope  to  Dorothy,  for  whom 
he  designed  that  part.  She  threw  herself  enthusiasti- 
cally into  this  character,  for  the  disguised  and  sorrow- 
ful wife  wandering  through  Europe  to  look  for  the 
lost  husband,  appealed  to  her  love  of  sentiment. 
"  Another  character  wherein  I  took  infinite  delight  was 
Matilda,  in  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  because  it  strongly 
savoured  of  the  pathetic,"  she  said  thirty  years  later, 
when  talking  with  Helen  Maria  Williams,  now  for- 
gotten, but  then  well  known  for  her  writings  on  Paris 
and  the  Revolution.  This  new  play  was  a  favourite  for 
years,  but  it  had  to  share  the  boards  with  tragedy,  and 
in  October  Mrs.  Siddons  made  a  sensation  in  the 

99 


ioo     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

play  of  Cleone,  by  Dodsley.  In  this  she  so  affected 
the  ladies  among  the  audience  that  on  the  second 
night  the  boxes  were  nearly  empty.  The  critics 
attributed  this  to  the  frivolous  atmosphere  which 
had  come  over  the  stage  with  the  advent  of  Mrs. 
Jordan,  one  adding  that  "the  refined  feelings  of  the 
present  time  affect  to  revolt  at  tragedies  where  insi- 
pidity does  not  prevail."  Boaden,  however,  in  more 
downright  fashion  says  that  it  was  truly  distressing  to 
see  Mrs.  Siddons  in  the  agonies  of  Cleone — a  mother 
raving  over  her  murdered  child — only  a  little  month 
before  her  own  confinement.  "If  there  be  anything 
whatever  in  stage  exertion,  Cleone  was  quite  enough, 
one  would  think,  to  destroy  her." 

From  the  very  first,  the  sense  of  rivalry  was  keen 
between  Dorothy  and  the  great  Siddons,  and  this 
became  to  our  actress  one  of  the  most  disturbing 
influences  in  these  years  when  she  was  achieving 
and  the  latter  had  won  fame.  In  temperament  and 
character  they  were  as  far  as  the  poles  apart,  and  Mrs. 
Siddons  did  nothing  to  hide  the  scorn  she  felt  for  her 
rival,  while  Dorothy  chafed  always  under  the  sense  of 
inferiority  with  which  Mrs.  Siddons  burdened  her. 
This  rivalry  led  both  to  take  characters  which  were 
most  unsuited  to  them,  though  Dorothy  always  was 
troubled  with  a  desire  to  act  sentimental  parts.  In  a 
conversation  with  Miss  Williams,  she  said — 

"  During  the  very  zenith  of  my  career  in  the  walk  of 
comedy,  I  still  had  a  strong  hankering  after  the 
sentimental ;  I  was  always  gratified  in  the  extreme  when 
it  fell  to  my  lot  to  sustain  characters  of  such  a  cast. 
For  instance,  when  I  personified  Little  Pickle  in 
The  Spoiled  Child,  in  the  particular  scene  where  I 


Rivalry  and  Love  101 

sang  '  Since  then  I'm  doomed/  I  uniformly  called  up 
everything  I  could,  expressive  of  the  pathetic,  as  well 
in  countenance  as  voice  and  manner,  on  which 
occasions  nothing  was  so  truly  gratifying  to  my  feelings 
as  the  applause  which  followed ;  mind,  I  do  not  merely 
allude  to  the  air,  but  the  verbal  delivery  of  my  part, 
which  never  failed  in  producing  its  effect  upon  my 
auditors." 

She  also  had  a  wish  to  shine  in  polite  comedy,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  her  real  strength  lay  in  depicting 
simple,  arch,  buoyant  girls,  or  spirited,  loving  women ; 
and  in  spite  of  that  other  fact  that  she  thoroughly 
enjoyed  acting  handsome  hoydens.  Mrs.  Siddons, 
on  the  contrary,  could  only  show  the  height  of  her 
great  powers  in  tragedy.  These  two  were,  in  truth,  the 
complement  of  each  other  in  the  dramatic  world, 
needing  only  such  graceful  if  artificial  actresses  as 
Miss  Farren  to  play  the  high-born  dame  in  comedy  to 
complete  the  circle.  But  this  they  never  seemed  to 
realize,  and  there  were  two  historic  trials  of  strength 
between  them.  The  one  was  when  Dorothy  took  the 
part  of  Imogen  in  Cymbeline.  She  had  tried  it  in 
Yorkshire,  attaining  no  great  success.  In  London  she 
did  little  better,  for  she  lacked  that  delicate  dignity 
which  Imogen  needs  in  some  of  her  scenes.  Yet  the 
ordinary  public,  willing  by  this  time  to  applaud  any- 
thing she  did,  were  delighted.  Mrs.  Siddons  must 
have  revelled  in  the  real  failure  of  Dorothy  on  this 
occasion,  and  to  prove  to  every  one  that  it  was  a  failure, 
she  announced  for  her  benefit  in  the  spring  of  1787, 
that  she  would  take  the  part  of  Imogen.  Thomas 
Campbell,  her  admiring  biographer,  declared  that  he 
believed  that  she  only  did  it  to  prove  that  she  could 


102     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

beat  Mrs.  Jordan ;  and  he  concluded  his  account  of  the 
evening  by  recording  that  by  acting  Imogen  only  once, 
our  actress  put  a  stop  to  Mrs.  Jordan's  competition 
with  her  on  the  graver  stage.  Imogen,  having  to 
repulse  Cloten,  and  to  rebuke  lachimo,  requires  not 
only  sweetness,  but  dignity  of  demeanour.  Of  the 
latter  princely  quality,  the  lovely  and  romping  Mrs. 
Jordan  had  not  a  particle. 

The  poet  was  too  intent  on  the  play  and  the  actress 
to  note  that  which  the  less  concentrated  mind  thought 
of  importance.  For  Mrs.  Siddons's  sense  of  delicacy 
was  so  great  that  her  sense  of  propriety  suffered.  She 
was  filled  with  horror  at  the  idea  of  dressing  as  a  boy. 
So  she  wrote  to  Hamilton,  the  artist,  asking  him  if  he 
would  be  so  good  as  to  make  her  a  sketch  of  a  boy's 
dress  to  conceal  the  figure  as  much  as  possible.  And 
she  appeared  in  a  nondescript  apparel  which  excited 
mirth  among  the  laughter-loving  part  of  her  audience. 
Boaden  described  the  incident  rather  well  when  he 
said :  "  A  taste,  which  I  will  neither  censure  nor 
examine  on  the  present  occasion,  calls  upon  females 
who  assume  the  male  habit  for  a  more  complete  display 
of  the  figure  than  suits  the  decorum  of  a  delicate  mind. 
Mrs.  Siddons  assumed  as  little  of  the  man  as  possible, 
so  that  the  most  powerful  scenes  were  those  in  the 
dress  of  her  sex." 

But  though  Mrs.  Siddons  came  out  victor  in  this 
trial,  it  was  Mrs.  Jordan  to  whom  the  crown  was  given, 
when  they  competed  as  Rosalind  in  As  You  Like  it. 
The  former  had  played  this  part  in  a  benefit  some  time 
earlier,  but  she  had  not  the  qualities  of  roguishness 
and  lightness  it  required,  and  she  was  too  squeamish  to 
take  the  manly  dress  in  a  manly  spirit.  For  that 


Rivalry  and  Love  103 

part  she  had  other  garments  designed  for  her,  which, 
also,  were  suitable  neither  for  man  nor  woman,  and 
so  drew  much  ridicule  upon  her  stately  head,  a  ridicule 
which  Genest  trenchantly  said  was  very  deserved ; 
"  she  had  it  at  her  option  to  act  Rosalind  or  not  to  act 
Rosalind — but,  determined  to  act  the  part,  she  should 
have  dressed  properly."  Campbell  mournfully  and 
grudgingly  admitted  that  if  her  impersonation  was 
not  entirely  a  failure  she  had  equally  fallen  short  of 
triumph.  "  Here,  I  believe,  in  the  whole  of  her  pro- 
fessional career,  Mrs.  Siddons  found  a  rival,  who  beat 
her  out  of  a  single  character.  But  those  who  best 
remember  Mrs.  Jordan  will  be  the  least  surprised  at 
her  defeating  her  great  contemporary  in  this  one 
instance.  Mrs.  Jordan  was,  perhaps,  a  little  too  much 
of  the  romp  in  some  touches  of  the  part ;  but  altogether 
she  had  the  naivete  of  it  to  such  a  degree  that  Shake- 
speare himself,  if  he  had  been  a  living  spectator,  would 
have  gone  behind  the  scenes  to  have  saluted  her  for  her 
success  in  it." 

While  the  conclusion  of  his  paragraph  was  the 
highest  praise  Dorothy  Jordan  could  have  received,  the 
first  sentence  was  scarcely  fair  to  her,  for  she  played 
many  parts  in  which  Mrs.  Siddons  would  have  been 
impossible. 

Among  the  characters  which  added  to  Dorothy's 
popularity  were  Miss  Prue,  in  Love  for  Love;  Juletta 
to  Kemble's  Pedro  in  The  Pilgrim,  by  Fletcher,  and 
Roxalana  in  The  Sultan.  In  the  last,  Barrymore  took 
the  part  of  the  Grand  Turk,  and  he  found  Roxalana 
so  fascinating  that  he  could  not  always  properly  sustain 
the  character  of  the  stern  Bashaw.  On  quitting  the 
boards  one  night  he  ran  into  the  Green  Room,  threw 


IO4     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

himself  on  a  sofa,  and  after  indulging  in  a  laugh  that 
was  nearly  suffocating,  turned  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  saying, 
"  By  the  Holy  Prophet,  madam,  if  you  continue  to  play 
after  this  fashion  you  will  despatch  me  in  an  agony  of 
laughter  to  the  seventh  heaven,  there  to  enjoy  my 
houris  everlastingly." 

Mrs.  Jordan  was  very  busy  that  autumn  and  in  the 
early  part  of  1787,  after  which  her  name  appears  less 
frequently  in  the  lists.  This  does  not  mean  that  she 
was  always  absent  unless  her  presence  was  reported, 
but  she  really  did  not  act  so  often,  and  for  this  there 
were  several  causes. 

There  were  the  Kembles  always  to  be  considered, 
and  Dorothy's  activity  in  the  winter  is  to  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Siddons  was  again  absent  from 
the  theatre,  for  family  reasons.  When  she  was  back 
at  work  there  was  naturally  less  scope  for  her  rival's 
powers. 

During  this  first  year  in  London  there  is  silence 
about  Dorothy's  private  life.  She  lived  in  Henrietta 
Street  with  her  family,  but  the  newspapers  were  con- 
cerned solely  with  her  theatrical  triumphs.  A  great 
deal  has  been  said  about  her  absolute  integrity,  and  her 
freedom  from  the  sins  of  her  sister  actresses,  though 
one  biographer,  shocked  at  her  wifely  connection 
with  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  called  her  a  degraded 
woman,  who  had  brought  disgrace  upon  an  honourable 
profession.  This  was  pure  nonsense,  for  the  general 
life  of  an  actress,  then,  was  far  from  being  as  respect- 
able as  Dorothy's,  and  when  one  was  high-minded 
like  Mrs.  Siddons,  it  was  regarded  as  a  miracle. 
Society  had  pronounced  the  actress  a  pariah,  and  gave 
her  no  temptation  to  be  a  saint. 


Rivalry  and  Love  105 

In  December  1786  a  sketch  of  Mrs.  Jordan  ap- 
peared in  The  Town  and  Country  Magazine,  one 
paragraph  of  which  began  with  the  words :  "  Mrs. 
Jordan  has  always  been  prudent  in  her  amours.  Her 
present  favourite  is  not  the  choice  of  love."  Then 
comes  a  description  of  the  man  who,  having  great 
influence  at  the  theatre,  had  convinced  her  that  it  was 
to  her  advantage  to  accept  his  suit.  This  proves  one 
thing  and  infers  another;  the  proven  thing  being  that 
before  that  date  Dorothy  was  known  to  be  the  mistress 
of  Richard  Ford.  But  the  first  words  hint  that  there 
had  been  some  one  else  who  had  also  appealed  to  her 
prudence.  If  such  an  inference  may  be  drawn,  this 
some  one  else  was  a  man  of  property  named  Bettes- 
worth,  for,  twenty  years  after,  one  of  her  daughters  was 
stated  to  be  the  child  of  an  old  gentleman  named 
Bettesworth,  who  had  left  her  money  on  the  condition 
that  she  took  his  name.  This,  however,  comes  later. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  statement  that 
Dorothy  only  yielded  to  Ford  on  the  solemn  promise 
that  he  would  make  her  his  wife.  Boaden,  in  his  desire 
to  please  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  makes  scarcely  any 
mention  of  the  Ford  connection,  which,  however,  lasted 
for  five  years,  and  no  light  is  thrown  by  him  on  the 
subject.  The  Great  Illegitimates,  however,  asserts  it 
was  accompanied  by  "  a  solemn  promise  of  marriage, 
which  the  gentleman  said  must  be  deferred,  under  the 
dread  of  giving  offence  to  his  father,  on  whom  he  was 
dependent;  when,  confiding  in  the  honour  and 
promises  of  her  suitor,  Mrs.  Jordan  at  length  consented 
to  place  herself  under  his  protection." 

If  this  was  so,  it  was  not  unlikely  that  Dorothy 
was  willing  to  give  up  a  rich,  but  married  lover,  for  a 


io6     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

young  and  impecunious  man ;  for  her  great  desire  was 
to  be  a  legally  wedded  wife.  Ford  was  the  son  of  Dr. 
James  Ford,  of  Albemarle  Street,  Court  physician  and 
favourite,  who  had  a  very  heavy  monetary  interest  in 
Drury  Lane,  being  at  one  time  the  sole  capitalist, 
holding  a  mortgage  of  £31,500  on  the  theatre.  Thus, 
Richard  Ford  was  free  to  come  and  go  just  as  he 
pleased;  and,  being  a  friend  of  Sheridan's,  he  seems 
to  have  taken  full  advantage  of  his  position,  even  to 
the  falling  in  love  with  Dorothy.  There  is  no  record 
that  he  had  any  particular  ability  beyond  that  of 
generally  managing  to  attain  his  ends,  and  he  has  left 
but  a  shadowy  character  behind,  with  few  to  praise. 
Boaden  said  of  him,  that  of  all  the  men  he  had  ever 
known  there  was  none  about  whom  there  was  so  little 
to  say.  He  asked  men  of  Ford's  standing  at  the  Bar 
and  on  the  Bench  their  recollections  of  him,  and  adds, 
'  They  knew  him  as  I  did  personally,  but  he  had 
impressed  their  minds  as  a  fly  did  their  hands,  they  had 
just  shaken  it  and  it  was  gone." 

When  the  struggle  over  the  promise  and  the  taking 
of  the  name,  Mrs.  Ford,  began  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  but 
the  two  took  a  house,  No.  5  Gower  Street,  some  time 
in  1787,  Dorothy  calling  herself  privately  Mrs.  Ford, 
though  all  their  friends  of  course  knew  that  they  were 
not  married.  Later,  a  little  place  was  taken  at  Rich- 
mond, probably  for  the  babies  that  quickly  arrived,  and 
as  a  week-end  resort.  In  May  1787,  a  gossiping  para- 
graph in  a  daily  paper  ran  to  the  effect  that  "  Mrs. 
Jordan,  generally  styled  the  daughter  of  Thalia,  will 
soon  make  the  Muse  a  grandmother."  From  time  to 
time  Dorothy  used  all  her  arts  to  induce  this  man  of  her 
choice  to  retrieve  his  promise  by  fulfilment,  but  always 


Rivalry  and  Love  107 

unsuccessfully.  In  relation  to  this  it  is  interesting 
to  note — as  an  example  of  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  the 
ancient  writer  who  declared  that  there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun — that  in  The  Great  Illegitimates  runs 
the  sentence,  "  She  was  fed  up  with  the  hopes  that  the 
old  doctor  would  be  reconciled  to  the  match,  and  the 
consummation  of  the  nuptials  was  never  supposed  on 
her  part  to  be  half  a  year  distant." 

Fed  up  !  To  think  that  even  our  street  slang  is  but 
a  thing  pilfered  from  the  mouths  of  our  forefathers ! 

Whether  Richard  Ford  ever  intended  to  fulfil  his 
plighted  word  cannot  be  known ;  he  had,  however,  done 
a  very  good  thing  for  himself  in  forming  this  alliance. 
Dorothy's  salary,  to  begin  with,  was  not  to  be  despised 
by  a  man  who,  in  addition  to  the  paternal  allowance, 
was  living  on  hoped-for  briefs ;  her  benefits — two  in  a 
season — doubled  that  salary,  and  her  summer  tours 
added  some  hundreds  of  pounds  to  her  exchequer. 
Not  a  great  fortune  in  all,  but  a  very  welcome  addition 
to  a  budding  barrister's  fees. 

Though  comment  was  fast  and  free  upon  this  union, 
Dorothy's  popularity  and  a  general  sympathetic  belief 
in  the  honesty  of  her  situation  induced  society  to  look 
with  kindliness  upon  her,  and  she  was  well  received  in 
various  circles.  Among  her  friends  she  counted  the 
man  who  had  championed  her  father  through  his  life, 
had  probably  carried  his  dead  body  back  to  Ireland, 
and  had  raised  a  stone  to  his  memory,  Sir  Francis 
Lumm ;  Lady  Lumm  accepted  Dorothy  as  Mrs.  Ford, 
though  she  knew  the  truth  concerning  the  alliance,  and 
pressed  invitations  to  her  routs  and  parties  upon  her. 
Cards — and  card-sharping — were  the  great  amusement 
of  the  time,  but  Dorothy  is  said  never  to  have  touched 


io8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

a  card.  Among  the  noted  players  to  be  met  there  was 
Lady  Collier — "  famed  for  pilfering  card  money  " — 
others  were  the  Miss  Dalrymples,  Captain  William 
Bayley,  brother  to  Lord  Anglesey,  and  his  wife,  John 
Foster  Hill  and  his  wife,  Lady  Anne,  a  daughter  of 
Lord  Molesworth;  which  seems  to  prove  that  the 
intimacy  lasted  a  long  time,  as  the  Hills  did  not  marry 
until  1792.  The  author  of  The  Great  Illegitimates — 
who  speaks  of  himself  as  a  mere  stripling  at  the  time 
— says  of  Dorothy  at  these  gatherings  : 

"  Our  heroine's  affability  of  manners  and  sweetness 
of  deportment  were  the  general  themes  of  admiration, 
a  sentiment  still  more  enhanced  when  she  electrified 
the  auditors  by  warbling  one  of  her  ballads  wild, 

That  flowed  like  softest  music 

O'er  the  placid  surface  of  the  deep.' " 

That  in  the  late  spring  of  1787  Dorothy  expected  a 
child  to  be  born  to  her  would  be  one  reason  why  she 
did  not  act  constantly,  and  another  was  a  certain 
feeling  against  her — irrespective  of  the  Kembles — in 
the  theatre,  one  which  emanated  from  the  manager, 
Tom  King. 

He  had  at  first  been  delighted  to  hail  the  girl  who 
could  raise  the  revenue  of  the  establishment,  but  her 
acting  was  not  really  pleasant  to  him.  He  was  nearly 
sixty  years  old,  and  had  been  bred  in  a  theatrical 
atmosphere  too  rarefied  for  the  goddess  Nature.  All 
acting  went  by  rule  to  his  thinking ;  Tragedy  was  the 
stately  Mrs.  Siddons;  Comedy  was  a  gentle  lady  who 
curtsied  and  walked  with  mincing  step,  laid  hand  to 
heart,  and  in  high-falutin  strain  protested  this  and 
that ;  in  all  circumstances  she  dressed  and  powdered  to 


Rivalry  and  Love  109 

perfection,  exhibited  an  affected  graciousness,  and 
otherwise  belonged  to  his  early  days. 

Dorothy  Jordan,  whose  laugh  came  from  her  heart, 
who  dressed  for  her  part  without  shame  or  vanity, 
shocked  him  and  upset  all  his  sententious  mannerisms. 
How  could  he,  being  what  he  was,  act  comfortably 
with  her,  she  being  what  she  was?  So,  for  his  prin- 
ciple's sake,  he  began  to  edge  her  off  the  stage ;  he  put 
on  pieces  which  needed  the  affected  ways  of  Miss 
Farren,  or  the  pretty  sprightliness  of  Mrs.  Crouch;  for 
fine  ladies  were  his  delight.  This  tendency  became  a 
habit,  and  Dorothy  found  herself  relegated  to  second 
place  in  the  theatre;  though  it  was  not  so  with  the 
public,  who  gathered  in  little  crowds  round  the  stage 
door,  only  to  see  her  step  into  her  carriage,  and  talked 
of  her  salary,  her  success  and  her  parts. 

Yet  she  played  sufficiently  not  to  be  forgotten,  and 
her  benefits  were  crowded,  her  receipts  on  such 
occasions  often  being  larger  than  those  of  any  other 
actor.  Thus  in  May  1788  her  benefit  night  brought 
her  £325,  while  Kemble's  produced  ^290,  Bannister's 
(senior)  £300,  Bannister's  (junior)  £295,  and  Mrs. 
Crouch  £280. 

Perhaps  disgusted  with  the  managerial  partiality, 
or  perhaps  for  other  and  more  personal  reasons, 
Dorothy  went  north  at  the  end  of  May  1787,  before 
Drury  Lane  had  closed,  and  acted  again  for  Tate 
Wilkinson  at  Leeds,  the  theatre  being  brilliantly 
attended — among  the  audience  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
and  a  crowd  of  his  friends  were  prominent.  Yet  before 
her  Yorkshire  visit  was  over,  the  hurt  feelings  which 
had  prompted  her  rush  from  London  were  revived  by 
the  knowledge  that  Miss  Farren  was  billed  at  York  and 


iio     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Hull  in  some  of  her  own  comedy  pieces.  Perhaps  it 
was  this  little  piece  of  independence  on  the  part  of 
Tate  Wilkinson — for  she  considered  Miss  Farren's 
talent  to  be  too  near  akin  to  her  own  to  share  so  small 
a  field — which  induced  her  to  play  a  trick  on  him;  at 
least,  he  considered  it  as  such.  She  recommended  a 
Miss  Barnes  as  a  diamond  of  the  first  water,  which  was 
not  sufficiently  valued  at  Drury  Lane.  So  Wilkinson 
engaged  Miss  Barnes,  and  appointed  Juliet  for  her 
first  appearance,  "  but  the  London  lady's  Juliet  was 
very  hissing  hot,  indeed,  so  much  so,  that  she  never 
played  with  me  again.  This  was  a  joke  to  Mrs.  Jordan 
but  not  so  with  me,"  he  adds. 

Dorothy  appeared  in  Edinburgh  as  early  as  June 
7,  and  continued  to  act  until  the  middle  of  July, 
though  she  did  not  leave  the  society  of  her  kinsmen  in 
the  northern  town  until  well  into  September,  as  a  girl 
was  born  to  her  at  the  end  of  August.  Was  this  child 
the  Miss  Bettesworth  who  enjoyed  a  brief  period  of 
prominence  in  1806,  or  was  she  really  Ford's  daughter? 
When  the  newspapers  were  anticipating  the  opening  of 
the  theatres,  one  of  Dorothy's  champions  in  The  Public 
Advertiser  announced  coarsely,  under  the  headlines  of 
"THEATRICALS.  HOMEWARD  BOUND. 
"  Shirley  :  Owner.  The  Jordan  from  Edinburgh — a 
small  sprightly  vessel — went  out  of  the  London 
harbour  laden — dropt  her  cargo  in  Edinburgh.  The 
Siddons,  been  to  refit — was  said  to  be  damaged  in  her 
upper  works,"  etc. 

By  Richard  Ford,  Dorothy  had  four  children,  that 
is,  including  this  girl,  born  in  1787;  only  one  was  a 
boy,  and  he  died  at  birth.  In  1792,  The  Morning  Post 
described  her  family  as  four,  one  being  Frances  Daly. 


Rivalry  and  Love  1 1 1 

In  1798,  the  Fashionable  Cypriad  also  gave  her  four 
girls,  in  addition  to  the  then  existing  Fitzclarences, 
but  in  Boaden,  Harrington  and  The  Great  Illegitimates 
only  three  girls,  Frances,  Dorothea  and  Lucy,  are 
ever  named.  This  is  somewhat  mysterious,  and  would 
be  more  so  if  it  were  not  that  all  the  accounts  are 
based  upon  two,  and  these  two  designed  to  hide  every- 
thing that  did  not  redound  to  the  credit  of  the  subject 
of  the  biography.  Thus  it  was  quite  possible  to  lose 
all  trace  of  one  of  the  girls,  about  whom  there  may 
have  been  some  untoward  story  of  her  birth. 

Mrs.  Jordan  came  back  to  her  work  in  the  autumn 
of  1787,  to  find  matters  rather  worse  than  better  at 
Drury  Lane.  The  theatre  was  ruled,  not  by  its  acting 
manager,  Tom  King,  but  by  its  actual  manager  and 
part  proprietor,  R.  B.  Sheridan,  who  had  little  time  to 
attend  to  the  needs  of  the  drama ;  as  King  said,  when 
he  had  appointments  with  him  he  was  always  in  "  a 
great  hurry,  or  surrounded  by  company,"  and  further 
declared  that  he  had  no  power  to  refuse  or  accept  a 
play,  to  appoint  or  discharge  an  actor,  nor  even  to  buy 
a  yard  of  copper  lace  to  add  to  a  coat,  "  which  was  so 
much  wanted."  Thus,  between  one  authority  and 
another,  or  rather  because  of  the  want  of  properly 
delegated  authority,  the  theatre  was  starved,  and  the 
company  was  deeply  dissatisfied.  King  and  Kemble 
were  often  at  variance,  so  that  for  all  concerned  con- 
ditions were  fast  drifting  to  an  impasse.  In  such  a 
state  Dorothy  stood  little  chance,  with  King's  dis- 
approbation on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  "  the 
great  uneasiness  in  the  house  of  Kemble,"  which,  it  is 
said,  led  brother  and  sister  to  take  every  opportunity  to 
lessen  her  importance, 


H2     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Another  source  of  great  trouble  to  Dorothy  was  that 
Mrs.  Robinson,  who  had  married  again,  and  was 
now  Mrs.  Taylor,  had  secured  an  engagement  at  Drury 
Lane,  and  was  bent  on  proving  herself  the  better 
actress  of  the  two.  Failing  in  this — one  critic  said, 
"  On  the  stage  Mrs.  Taylor  has  less  fear  than  we  have 
for  her  " — she  bent  her  energies  constantly  to  annoying 
Dorothy,  in  and  out  of  season,  and  used  every  art  to 
make  the  other  performers  dislike  her.  Thus  Dorothy 
was  anything  but  happy  in  her  work,  she  acted  less 
than  usual,  and  her  popularity  was  said  to  have 
waned.  This  was  rather  a  newspaper  announcement 
than  a  real  fact,  and  was  founded  on  her  absence  from 
the  stage,  for  which  absence  the  initial  and  most  im- 
portant reason  was  a  long  and  severe  illness.  She  bore 
her  children  quickly,  and  seems  to  have  suffered  much 
in  health  at  intervals  through  the  period  of  gestation ; 
so  both  public  and  employers,  getting  annoyed  at 
these  recurring  absences,  began  a  habit  which  lasted 
many  years  of  calling  her  a  malingerer.  A  comic 
opera  had  been  projected,  Love  in  the  East,  by 
James  Cobb,  with  music  by  Linley,  in  which  Dorothy 
was  to  have  a  chief  part,  thus  there  was  especial 
anxiety  for  her  reappearance;  so  the  paragraphists 
were,  as  usual,  busy  with  her  name,  and  they  found  out 
or  invented  explanations  which  would  please  their 
public,  and  insinuated  trouble  between  Ford  and 
Dorothy,  with  consequent  sulks  on  her  part.  That 
there  should  have  been  quarrels  can  scarcely  be  sur- 
prising, for  she  had  lived  with  Richard  Ford  eighteen 
months,  had  borne  him  a  child,  and  still  he  had  not 
redeemed  his  promise  of  marrying  her. 

In  the  heyday  of  his  passion  for  her   Ford  had 


Rivalry  and  Love  1 1 3 

probably  meant  what  he  said,  but  his  father  still  lived, 
and  had  the  power  materially  to  aid  his  career.  Dr. 
Ford  was  at  that  time  trying  to  realize  his  capital,  one 
way  being  to  sell  what  remained  of  his  share  in  Drury 
Lane  for  £17,500,  and  Richard  Ford  may  have  been 
made  nervous  as  to  his  father's  intentions  when  he 
retired  as  he  wished  to  do.  Before  the  end  of  the  year 
the  doctor  did  retire,  the  papers  said  with  a  fortune 
of  £100,000. 

Gossip  also  asserted  that  Dorothy,  being  known  as 
Mrs.  Ford,  was  determined  to  act  under  that  name, 
but  that  King  absolutely  refused  so  to  bill  her,  while 
she,  on  her  part,  refused  to  play  otherwise,  and  had 
resigned  her  salary.  In  answer  to  this  Dorothy  wrote 
to  the  papers  giving  a  positive  denial  to  the  statement 
that  she  declined  performing  until  she  was  announced 
in  a  manner  different  from  what  she  had  been,  and 
asserting  that  a  long  continuance  of  severe  illness 
had  alone  been  the  cause  of  her  absence.  This,  how- 
ever, was  regarded  as  not  true,  and  the  heckling 
continued. 

By  this  time  Ford  had  entered  Parliament  as  a 
member  for  Grinstead,  and  through  Sheridan's  interest 
probably  hoped  for  some  good  post  under  government, 
being  at  the  same  time  ambitious  for  high  honours. 
Thus,  if  he  was  looking  to  the  future,  he  may  have 
considered  that  the  woman  who  had  yielded  to  him  in 
trust  could  not  be  deemed  worthy  of  so  great  a  person- 
age as  himself.  On  the  other  hand,  he  may  have 
learned  hidden  matters  about  the  Bettesworth  affair, 
which  changed  his  intentions. 

It  may  have  been,  too,  that  Dorothy's  family  in- 
fluenced him,  for  to  most  of  them  her  purse  was  con- 


ii4     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

stantly  opened.  There  were  her  mother  and  four  or  five 
brothers  and  sisters,  most  of  whom  seemed  incapable  of 
becoming  independent.  No  one  could  have  expected 
it  of  the  mother,  who,  though  not  much  over  fifty,  was 
at  that  time  far  from  the  possibility  of  earning  her 
living,  and  Dorothy  never  gave  any  sign  of  even 
thinking  her  a  burden,  for  she  was  the  most  loving  of 
daughters. 

Of  the  brothers,  family  papers  say  that  Francis, 
probably  the  eldest,  was,  in  his  turn,  called  Captain 
Bland;  he  may  have  been  in  the  militia,  the  navy,  or 
the  army,  but  the  army  lists  for  that  period  do  not  go 
so  far  back.  He  was  a  wild  and  reckless  person,  and 
for  a  long  period  an  expense  to  his  sister,  always 
begging  from  her,  and  receiving  help. 

Nathaniel  was  never  a  charge  upon  Dorothy.  He 
was  sent  to  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  by  his  aunt, 
and  matriculated  in  October  1786,  taking  his  B.A.  in 
1790.  What  occupation  he  followed  later  is  not 
known,  but  he  settled  down  at  Trelethyn,  and  married 
a  lady  named  Phcebe  James,  sister-in-law  of  the  Rev. 
William  Richardson,  vicar  and  canon  of  St.  David's. 
Having  no  children,  these  Blands  adopted  a  boy, 
nephew  to  Mrs.  Nathaniel. 

As  for  George,  the  third  boy,  he  seems  generally  to 
have  hung  on  to  Dorothy's  fortunes,  being  the  cause 
of  considerable  friction  between  Dorothy,  who  wanted 
him  to  be  included  in  the  Drury  Lane  company,  and 
first  King  and  then  Kemble,  both  of  whom  refused  to 
admit  him,  though  Kemble  eventually  gave  way. 

The  eldest  sister,  Hester,  lived  with  Dorothy  for 
years,  often  acting  in  minor  parts,  but  the  date  on 
which  she  went  to  Trelethyn  and  settled  down  is  lost, 


Rivalry  and  Love  1 1 5 

as  is  also  the  date  on  which  the  younger  sister  became 
a  charge  upon  Mrs.  Jordan. 

This  younger  sister  and  one  of  Dorothy's  daughters — 
it  is  suggested  in  family  papers  that  her  name  was  also 
Hester — remain  but  shadowy  people  in  this  record, 
for  they  did  little  to  become  known  or  to  be  reported 
in  the  papers,  yet  here  and  there  evidence  of  their 
existence  is  given. 

Of  all  these  at  this  time  George  was  the  best  known 
weight  upon  his  sister,  who  could  see  nothing  for  him 
but  a  stage  career ;  year  after  year  she  pressed  his  name 
upon  the  manager,  and  year  after  year  that  gentleman, 
like  Ford,  sought  to  soothe  her  with  promises. 

Though  Tate  Wilkinson  does  not  mention  him, 
George  was  with  her  each  time  she  went  to  Edinburgh, 
and  he  was  also  with  her  at  Cheltenham,  besides  acting 
in  the  provinces  whenever  an  opening  could  be  secured 
for  him.  Occasional  and  not  always  good-natured 
references  were  made  to  him  in  the  papers ;  such  as : 
'  The  male  Jordan,  brother  of  the  Romp  of  that  name, 
who  has  been  on  the  Northern  tour  with  his  sister,  and 
performed  several  characters,  particularly  in  the  sing- 
ing line,  is,  we  hear,  to  try  his  skill  at  the  old  Drury 
this  winter."  These  would  generally  be  followed  by  a 
counter  announcement  to  such  effect  as  (The  Public 
Advertiser) :  "  The  brother  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  who  has  to 
boast  much  of  her  archness  and  comic  power,  is  not  yet 
to  appear  at  Drury  Lane."  Thus  one  gathers  that 
disappointment  after  disappointment  waited  upon 
Dorothy  and  George,  and  it  is  only  possible  to  think 
that  the  cause  was  the  young  man's  own  inefficiency,  for 
the  management  had  many  chances  of  studying  him, 
and  were  always  keen  to  secure  a  clever  actor.  He, 


n6     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

like  Nathaniel,  must  have  been  a  gentle  and,  to  some 
extent,  a  retiring  man ;  personally,  he  was  said  to  have 
been  remarkably  like  Dorothy  both  in  feature,  height, 
and  slimness  of  figure. 

Now,  to  all  the  unsuccessful  members  of  her  family 
Dorothy  was  lavish  with  money,  and  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  if  she  earned  much  she  also  spent  much — 
though  history  shows  no  evidence  of  personal  extrava- 
gance on  her  part;  Ford  may  have  disliked  the 
presence  of  so  many  of  Dorothy's  people  about  the 
house,  and  still  more  have  disliked  her  spending 
money  on  them.  But,  on  the  whole,  there  must  have 
been  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  the  characters  of  the 
two;  Ford,  with  a  trained  legal  mind,  alive  to  the  value 
of  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  as  stepping-stones; 
and  Dorothy,  born  and  bred  in  Bohemia,  nursed  in 
the  midst  of  financial  difficulty,  and  endowed  with  an 
unusually  generous  nature.  It  is  a  marvellous  thing 
that,  however  they  lived,  together  or  parted,  there  is 
no  recorded  word  of  Dorothy's  derogatory  to  Richard 
Ford,  and  though  later  many  journals  fought  a  public 
battle  over  their  separation,  she  let  them  say,  and  kept 
a  discreet  silence. 


CHAPTER   VII 

SUCCESS    AND    FAILURE 

"  Sweet  child  of  nature,  born  to  pleasure, 
Decked  with  Thalia's  dearest  treasure, 
Armed  with  smiles  all  hearts  to  gain, 
With  love  and  laughter  in  thy  train  ; 
While  with  every  changing  scene 
Fresh  graces  deck  thy  comic  mien. 
Thy  wild  notes  sweetly  thrill  the  heart, 
By  nature  taught,  disdaining  art ; 
No  laboured  sounds  distort  thy  face, 
All's  done  with  nature's  simple  grace." 

ANON.  To  /?./.,  as  Harry  Wildair. 

IT  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  April  1788,  the 
5th  to  be  precise,  that  Dorothy  appeared  again  on 
the  stage,  having  given  up  her  part  in  Love  in  the 
East,  which  was  produced  in  February.  She  knew 
that,  much  as  her  voice  charmed  the  public,  it  was  not 
sufficient  to  carry  on  the  sustained  effort  of  an  opera. 
For  this  reason,  when  a  year  or  two  later,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  include  her  services  in  the  oratorio  which 
took  place  annually  at  Drury  Lane,  she  first  hesitated 
and  then  definitely  refused. 

In  spite  of  the  reports  of  her  unpopularity,  the  house 
was  crowded  for  her  benefit  on  May  2,  when  she  played 
Harry  Wildair  in  The  Constant  Couple  for  the  first 
time,  and  she  was  so  enthusiastically  received  in  it  that 
she  gave  the  play  renewed  life  for  twenty  years. 

Her  part  abounded  in  sprightly  dainty  repartee, 
and  her  slight,  beautiful  figure  was  shown  to  perfection 
in  the  picturesque  dress  of  the  dissolute  young  man, 
Harry  Wildair,  that  stage  apology  for  immorality 

117 


ii8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

which  so  delighted  the  good  people  of  the  period,  who 
could  never  make  the  two  ends  of  ideal  and  practice 
meet.  John  Adolphus  in  his  Memoirs  of  Bannister 
fairly  well  puts  the  matter  in  saying  that  "  the  display 
of  manly  virtue  at  the  close  when  a  gentleman  of  high 
breeding  and  indisputable  courage  chooses  to  make 
honourable  reparation  to  a  lady  for  an  undesigned 
affront,  rather  than  extricate  himself  by  means  of  a 
duel,  throws  around  him  a  charm  which  makes  us  not 
only  forget,  but  absolutely  love  the  levities  and  the 
faults  which  before  required  all  the  charm  of  his  wit 
and  his  graces  barely  to  palliate." 

At  the  end  of  the  play  it  was  Dorothy's  business, 
as  chief  male  character,  to  announce  the  next  per- 
formance, which  was  to  be  All  for  Love  on  the  Monday, 
and,  with  her  acute  sense  of  public  feeling,  she  ended 
her  announcement  with  the  words  spoken  in  the  most 
respectful  and  kindly  way,  "  being  for  the  benefit  of 
Mistress  Siddons."  At  once  the  audience  was  newly 
captured,  and  burst  into  loud  applause  at  her  magna- 
nimity, for  all  the  world  knew  the  feeling  which 
existed  in  Siddonian  circles  against  their  Thalia. 

Of  Dorothy  one  critic  said  the  next  day  that  "her 
voice  was  sweet  and  distinct,  and  she  played  rakes 
with  the  airiest  grace  and  handsomest  leg  that  had  been 
seen  on  the  stage  for  a  long  time."  Indeed,  "  the 
symmetry  of  her  lower  parts,"  to  quote  Boaden,  was 
a  constant  inspiration  to  the  journalistic  pen.  A  year 
or  two  later  one  of  the  monthly  magazines  published 
a  picture  in  which  Mrs.  Jordan,  as  Harry  Wildair,  and 
Mrs.  Crouch  were  depicted  as  comparing  the  beauty 
of  their  silk-hosed  legs  for  the  judgment  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of  Clarence. 


Success  and  Failure  119 

Dorothy,  however,  played  little  this  spring,  in  spite 
of  the  warm  appreciation  at  her  benefit,  though  she 
went  on  until  June  13;  and  in  July  she,  for  the  first 
time,  acted  at  Cheltenham,  taking  with  her  her  brother 
George,  who  had  a  part  at  a  pound  a  week.  This  was 
the  summer  in  which  the  mental  illness  of  the  King 
began,  and  he  had  gone  to  Cheltenham,  hoping  to 
regain  the  health  which  was  so  subtly  and  fearfully 
leaving  him.  So  quick-witted  Dorothy  saw  her  oppor- 
tunity, and  arranged  an  engagement  with  the  manager 
of  the  little  Theatre  Royal  there.  The  Court,  includ- 
ing the  King  and  Queen,  went  to  see  her  act  several 
times,  and  her  benefit  night  was  again  a  triumph,  an 
announcement  being  made  that  a  gold  medal  was  in 
course  of  manufacture  for  her,  which  the  nobility  and 
gentry  of  the  countryside  desired  to  present. 

This  medal  took  the  form  of  an  "  elegant  medallion 
locket,"  richly  set  on  one  side  with  fine  pearls,  in  the 
centre  of  which  was  a  beautiful  painting  of  the  comic 
muse,  from  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  picture.  On  the 
reverse  was  placed  in  blue  enamel  an  oval  of  fine 
brilliants,  and  in  the  centre  the  following  inscription 
in  gold  letters  on  white  enamel— 

"  Presented  to  Mrs.  Jordan.     Thalia's  sweetest  child." 

The  Drury  Lane  troubles  through  that  spring  and 
summer  became  acute  and  the  company  gradually 
disintegrated.  King  distrusted  Kemble's  more 
advanced  ideas,  and  Kemble  unwillingly  submitted 
to  King's  old-fashioned  ways;  Gentleman  Smith 
backed  up  King,  yet  felt  himself  out  of  the  centre  of 
things.  The  Kembles  were  afraid  of  Mrs.  Jordan's 
popularity,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  hated  them  for  their  air 
of  superiority  and  their  power  to  put  her  in  the  shade ; 


120     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

there  was  no  love  lost  between  Miss  Farren  and  Mrs. 
Crouch  on  the  one  hand,  and  Dorothy  on  the  other. 
She  had  to  see  them  take  parts  which  she  regarded  as 
peculiarly  her  own,  and  they  knew  that  the  public 
laughed  louder  and  more  heartily  at  and  with  her  than 
it  did  at  them.  Mrs.  Siddons  often,  as  at  her  benefit 
this  year,  ranged  herself  among  the  comedy  actresses 
rather  than  let  Dorothy  become  too  prominent. 
Sheridan's  constant  money  troubles  made  him  cut 
down  the  expenses  of  the  theatre  to  such  a  close 
margin  that  King  could  put  on  no  new  plays,  and  had 
ever  to  ring  the  changes  on  the  old,  with  the  result 
that  though  he  had  the  four  greatest  performers  of  the 
day  in  the  theatre,  Harris  easily  outrivalled  him  at 
Covent  Garden. 

Some  of  the  older  actors  grew  tired  of  the  struggle, 
and  the  first  to  give  up  was  Gentleman  Smith,  termed 
by  Churchill  in  The  Rosciad,  "  Smith  the  genteel, 
the  airy,  and  the  smart,"  who  announced  his  retirement 
from  Drury  Lane  and  any  other  stage  in  April  1788, 
and  made  his  last  appearance  on  the  9th  of  June; 
thus  weakening  King's  hands  and  strengthening  those 
of  Kemble.  Palmer  and  Parsons  drifted  away,  and 
then  King,  seeing  three  of  his  own  supporters  disap- 
pear, sent  in  his  resignation  and,  to  make  it  irrevoc- 
able, left  London  the  same  day.  Indeed,  the  personnel 
of  the  theatre  seemed  to  be  almost  in  the  condition  of 
the  "  one-hoss  shay,"  that  is  of  suddenly  and  entirely 
falling  to  pieces. 

In  the  autumn  the  company  was  without  a  manager, 
for  King  was  gone  and  Kemble  was  standing  out  for 
his  own  terms,  including  a  certain  amount  of  free- 
dom in  internal  arrangements;  in  fact,  he  intended 


Success  and  Failure  121 

to  be  manager  and  not  just  a  buffer  between  Sheridan 
and  all  the  small  troubles  incidental  to  a  theatre.  He 
gained  his  way,  of  course,  for  Sheridan  had  no  choice. 

When  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  known  then  as  Prince 
William,  was  first  attracted  to  Dorothy  no  one  can 
say;  but  during  October  of  1788  he  was  at  the  theatre 
to  see  the  first  performance  of  Love  for  Love,  a  play 
which  Genest  described  as  without  a  spark  of  honour 
or  virtue  in  any  person. 

Bannister  Junior  took  the  part  of  Ben  the  sailor, 
and  entering  the  Green  Room  on  trie  first  night  ready 
to  appear  on  the  stage,  he  found  the  Prince  there,  and 
was  subjected  to  a  critical  examination. 

"What!"  said  William,  "would  you  wear  that 
coloured  handkerchief  round  your  neck?  That  must 
be  changed." 

Upon  this  a  black  handkerchief  was  found,  and 
"  the  good-natured,  open-hearted  Prince  assisted  with 
his  own  hand  "  to  give  it  the  correct  position  and  knot, 
and  in  other  ways  he  helped  to  make  the  actor  as  like 
as  possible  to  a  genuine  son  of  the  ocean. 

It  is  not  likely  that  so  soon  as  this  the  Prince  was 
attracted  to  Dorothy,  for  her  second  Ford  child  was 
born  either  in  October  or  November,  so  she  was  not 
in  the  theatre.  On  the  22nd  of  the  latter  month  The 
Morning  Post  declared  that  it  would  be  an  advantage 
to  Drury  Lane  when  Mrs.  Jordan  recovered,  as  hers 
were  the  only  bills  from  that  quarter  that  were  duly 
honoured. 

While  she  was  away  from  the  theatre  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald's  farce,  The  Child  of  Nature,  was  first  played  at 
Covent  .Garden,  with  Miss  Brunton  in  the  chief  part, 
and  on  seeing  it  George  Saville  Carey,  dramatist, 


122     The  Story  01  Dorothy  Jordan 

author  of  The  Nut-brown  Maid,  and  son  of  the  man 
who  wrote  "  God  Save  the  King,"  sent  two  verses  to 
The  Morning  Post,  which  fixed  the  name  of  "  Child 
of  Nature"  on  Dorothy  for  evermore. 

"  The  play,  Fair  Inchbald,  surely  is  miscalled, 

I  fain  would  have  you  name  the  brat  again ; 
That  name  was  surely  long  ago  forestalled, 
The  Child  of  Nature  is  at  Drury  Lane. 

"  Yet  am  I  pleased  with  thy  prolific  Muse, 

Nor  would  I  wish  to  check  thy  rising  fame, 
Nature  thought  fit  a  favourite  to  choose, 
The  world  approved,  and  Jordan  is  her  name." 

Through  that  winter  Dorothy  acted  constantly  and 
in  several  new  parts.  She  was  Beatrice  in  a  play  by 
Bickerstaff,  renamed  by  Kemble  The  Panel;  The 
Impostors  was  written  specially  for  her  by  Cumber- 
land, but  it  was  weak  in  construction,  and,  to  the 
author's  disgust,  who  blamed  Dorothy,  it  only  ran  four 
nights.  She  took  Rosalind  for  her  benefit  in  Decem- 
ber, played  in  Vanbrugh's  Confederacy ',  while  the  old 
plays,  The  Devil  to  Pay  and  The  Romp  held  their 
own.  The  latter  being  in  book  form,  published  at  one 
shilling,  was  dedicated  by  the  author  to  Mrs.  Jordan 
in  the  following  words :  "  You  have  made  the  piece 
particularly  your  own  by  your  happy  conception  and 
admirable  representation  of  the  principal  character, 
and  have  raised  this  bagatelle  to  an  importance  which 
the  most  sanguine  partiality  of  its  author  could  never 
have  hoped  for.  You  have  rescued  it  from  oblivion 
and  fostered  it  with  the  exertion  of  your  splendid 
talents,  and  it  is  now  respectfully  offered  to  your 
acceptance." 

In  her  desire  to  become  known  as  a  mistress  of 
polite  comedy — perhaps  she  also  wished  to  show  that 


Success  and  Failure  123 

she  could  equal  Miss  Farren  on  her  own  ground — 
Dorothy  took  the  part  of  Lady  Bell  in  Know  Your 
Own  Mind,  which  the  critics  agreed  in  thinking  less 
than  admirable ;  Boaden  describing  her  in  this  repre- 
sentation of  a  fine  lady  as  "  a  smart  soubrette,  who  had 
hurried  on  her  ladies'  finest  apparel,  and  overacted  the 
character  to  avoid  being  detected." 

But  in  spite  of  a  mistake  of  this  sort  Dorothy 
Jordan  this  winter  sealed  her  fame  for  all  time,  and, 
as  a  writer  in  The  Dramatic  Magazine  somewhat 
vulgarly  says,  she  "  fairly  beat  Melpomene "  (Mrs. 
Siddons  as  typifying  tragedy)  "out  of  the  field." 
Another  opinion,  published  in  The  Rambler,  assured 
the  public  that :  "  Few  actresses  have  so  suddenly 
gained  or,  indeed,  so  well  deserved  the  universal 
approval  of  the  town  as  Mrs.  Jordan.  She  has  given 
celebrity  to  several  dramatic  pieces  that  but  for  her 
would  never  most  probably  have  been  revived."  And 
later  the  same  writer  added  :  "  Nothing  can  be  a  greater 
proof  of  excellence  than  that  her  spritely,  animated 
Miss  Tomboy  occasioned  the  revival  of  The  Romp, 
which  had  an  astonishing  run  at  Drury  Lane,  inso- 
much that  the  receipts  of  the  House  when  this  actress 
performed  greatly  exceeded  the  attractions  of  the 
famous  Melpomene." 

As  for  Mrs.  Siddons  there  was  a  grain  of  truth  about 
her  being  beaten  out  of  the  field,  though  she  by  no 
means  ceased  to  play.  She  had — her  brother  being 
manager — relinquished  her  contract  to  act  at  least 
three  times  a  week  for  £30,  for  the  more  advantageous 
one  of  acting  only  when  she  chose  on  a  payment  of 
£30  a  night,  which  meant  that  she  acted  less  and 
gained  more. 


124     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

The  feeling  between  Dorothy  and  the  Kembles 
grew  more  bitter  after  this;  Kemble's  first  year  was, 
in  fact,  distinguished  by  quarrels  with  both  actors  and 
actresses,  who  resented  his  improvements  and  his  high- 
handed methods  of  carrying  them  out;  comments  upon 
all  of  which  the  papers  joyfully  published.  With 
Dorothy  matters  came  to  a  crisis  early  in  January  1789, 
and  on  the  loth  she  was  not  at  the  theatre,  a  Mrs. 
Foster  taking  her  part.  It  may  have  been  illness,  or 
it  may  have  been  a  quarrel  which  kept  her  away,  for 
she  was  angry  about  her  brother,  as  Kemble  not  only 
refused  to  take  him,  but  had  even  endeavoured  to 
prevent  his  presence  in  the  stage  part  of  the  theatre 
at  all,  The  Morning  Post  reporting  that  the  door- 
keeper was  fined  five  shillings  for  allowing  him 
entrance.  This  was  a  small  penalty  for  a  small  thing, 
for  Kemble  fined  Mrs.  Crouch  five  guineas  for  refus- 
ing to  appear  when  he  and  she  had  had  a  desperate 
quarrel  concerning  her  clothes. 

If  Dorothy  was  in  a  general  state  of  irritation  about 
George,  she  was  also  brooding  over  the  fact  that  she 
who  drew  the  largest  audiences  to  the  theatre  was 
securing  only  twelve  guineas  a  week,  while  Mrs. 
Siddons  had  thirty.  However,  she  soon  recovered,  for 
her  absence  only  lasted  eleven  days,  but  the  strain 
between  Thalia  and  Melpomene  grew  keener,  and  a 
long  letter  appeared  one  day  in  March  in  The  Morn- 
ing Post  commenting  on  a  saying  by  Dorothy's  friends 
that  she  ought  not  to  act  on  the  same  night  as  Mrs. 
Siddons,  it  being  alleged  that  by  so  doing  she  filled 
the  house  for  her  rival  and  was  thus  forced  to  hold 
up  the  train  of  the  tragedy  queen. 

Then  Harris,  the  manager  of  Covent  Garden,  took 


Success  and  Failure  125 

advantage  of  these  rumours  to  offer  her  a  position  in 
his  theatre  at  any  salary  she  liked  to  name.  Upon  this 
Dorothy  wrote  to  Sheridan,  detailing  the  points  of  her 
complaints  concerning  the  Kembles,  telling  him  of 
the  Harris  offer,  and  saying  that  it  was  not  to  her 
interest  to  continue  to  play  at  Drury  Lane.  Sheridan 
was  at  this  time  deep  in  the  arraignment  of  Warren 
Hastings,  but  this  was  too  important  a  matter  to  be 
put  aside,  and  he  went  to  see  Dorothy,  promised  to  do 
away  with  all  her  grievances,  and  suggested  £30  a 
week  as  a  salary. 

She  had  no  real  desire  to  change  her  theatre,  and 
at  once  agreed  to  his  terms,  so  for  the  rest  of  the 
spring  she  was  constantly  acting. 

The  London  season  of  1789  over,  Dorothy  took  a 
week's  engagement  at  Richmond,  starting  on  June  29, 
in  The  Constant  Couple,  and  following  it  with  The 
Romp,  the  manager  Edwin  on  opening  the  theatre 
announcing  her  advent  in  a  prologue  of  which  two 
lines  ran — 

41  My  next  vast  merit,  I  must  have  a  word  on  ! 
Ecod !  d'ye  know,  I've  got  you  Mistress  Jordan  I" 

and  the  succeeding  lines  made  mention  of  her  leg,  her 
ankle,  her  foot,  and  promised  the  girls  a  kiss  from 
Harry  Wildair. 

At  the  end  of  the  week  she  did  one  of  her  impul- 
sively generous  deeds.  She  had  heard  that  Tate 
Wilkinson  had  been  crippled  by  an  accident,  so 
offered  to  act  Sir  Harry  Wildair  and  Nell  for  him 
for  nothing  at  his  benefit  on  Monday,  the  ;th  of  July. 
This  if  her  Richmond  engagement  finished  on  the 
5th  left  her  little  time  to  get  to  Leeds.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  Wilkinson  accepted  her  offer  with  alacrity, 


126     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  thought  himself  very  fortunate ;  but  he  estimated 
a  little  too  nicely  what  he  thought  Mrs.  Jordan  was 
likely  to  do.  Thus,  fearing  that  she  could  not  get  to 
him  in  time,  he  altered  the  day  from  Monday  to  Wed- 
nesday the  9th,  and  then  watched  with  some  misgiving 
for  the  arrival  of  the  actress.  Sunday,  Monday  morn- 
ing and  she  did  not  come ;  his  spirits  rose,  he  began  to 
pat  himself  for  his  acumen;  two  o'clock  on  Monday 
and  she  had  not  arrived;  then  he  was  quite  sure  that 
he  had  done  the  wise  thing,  for  he  persuaded  himself 
that  she  would  not  think  of  playing  without  a  previous 
rehearsal. 

The  Fords — to  give  them  the  name  Dorothy  wished 
and  under  which  she  was  billed  at  Leeds — had,  how- 
ever, travelled  by  post  from  Richmond,  and  arrived  in 
the  town  on  the  Monday  afternoon;  and  as  they 
entered  it  the  first  thing  Dorothy  looked  for  was  a 
theatre  bill.  On  seeing  one  her  warm  feelings  received 
a  shock,  for  her  name  was  not  upon  it,  and  she 
naturally  thought  that  Wilkinson  had  simply  put  her 
aside,  and  was  angry  that  she  should  have  taken  so 
much  trouble  for  nothing.  At  half-past  four  the 
gentleman  received  a  note  from  her,  saying  that  she 
was  in  the  town  and  was  surprised  not  to  see  her  name 
announced  for  that  night;  so  he  went — with  trepidation, 
we  may  believe — to  her  hotel,  grumbling  to  himself 
that  any  one  in  their  senses  would  think  it  too  great 
a  hardship  to  undergo  two  exhausting  performances 
just  after  finishing  such  a  journey.  He  must  have  felt 
uneasy  about  the  interview,  for  he  had  had  some 
experience  of  Dorothy  indignant;  and  truly  it  was 
scarcely  pleasant.  To  all  his  excuses  the  actress 
replied  that  she  would  act  that  night  or  not  at  all; 


Success  and  Failure  127 

that  she  could  not  stay  beyond  the  next  day,  as  her 
engagement  with  Mr.  Jackson  of  Edinburgh  involved 
a  fine  of  £500  if  she  were  not  there  at  the  time  fixed. 
Wilkinson  tried  persuasion  and  cajolery,  pointing  out 
how  terribly  the  town  would  be  offended  if  she  did 
not  perform  at  his  benefit,  and  that  every  one  was 
speaking  in  praise  of  her  generosity  in  acting  for 
nothing. 

"  Nothing  !  "  said  the  irritated  lady,  "  nothing  !  No, 
I  cannot  stay  here  three  days,  risk  my  fine  at  Edin- 
burgh and  all  for  nothing;  I  shall  want  thirty  guineas 
if  I  stay." 

Poor  Wilkinson  felt  that  the  glory  of  his  benefit 
had  departed,  and  he  debated  with  himself  whether, 
after  all,  he  would  not  gain  as  much  without  her  as 
with  her  on  such  terms;  then  Dorothy  relented,  and 
said  she  would  stay  and  act  for  twenty  guineas.  And 
so  the  matter  was  fixed. 

Mrs.  Jordan  was  expecting  the  birth  of  another  babe 
in  the  winter,  and  Wilkinson  suggests  that  the  ladies 
at  Leeds  considered  her  representation  of  Sir  Harry 
Wildair  indelicate  under  such  conditions;  but  it  may 
be,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  whole  affair  had 
destroyed  that  happy  balance  of  mind  which  could 
ensure  success;  yet,  to  put  the  third  possibility,  the 
good  Tate  may  have  been  deaf  to  the  applause  as  he 
had  lost  twenty  guineas;  for  he  says  there  was  no 
great  applause  shown  such  as  she  was  accustomed  to, 
for  though  ladies  in  London  would  laugh  at  Farquhar 
and  Congreve,  those  in  the  country  judged  Sir  Harry 
at  best  as  a  loose  companion,  his  chastity  being  any- 
thing but  strengthened  when  acted  by  a  woman.  So 
he  concludes  that  Dorothy,  being  unappreciated,  was 


128     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

angry  with  her  reception;  yet  "they  parted  excellent 
good  friends." 

But  it  is  a  question  whether  Mrs.  Jordan  was  treated 
by  the  Yorkshire  audience  with  any  particular 
disdain.  It  seemed  to  be  generally  acknowledged 
that  they,  in  common  with  other  country  audiences, 
were  slow  to  applaud,  so  much  so  that  even  their  idol 
the  Queen  of  Tragedy  that  very  summer  of  1789  felt 
depressed  by  their  attitude  when  she  played  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  to  them,  saying  that  it  took  double  the 
strength  and  force  of  will  to  act  in  the  provinces  that 
it  took  on  the  London  boards. 

On  the  way  to  Leeds  Dorothy  was  to  play  at 
Harrogate  for  several  nights,  which  was  probably  a 
further  reason  for  her  annoyance  with  Wilkinson's 
change  of  dates.  While  playing  there  a  young,  dark- 
eyed  girl  sat  in  the  gallery  watching  this  noted  "  star," 
one  who  later  was  known  as  Harriot  Mellon,  and  who 
married  Coutts,  the  banker,  becoming  eventually 
Duchess  of  St.  Albans. 

Dorothy's  mother  was  at  that  time  in  bad  health, 
and  it  may  be  that  she  left  her  in  that  resort  for 
invalids,  while  she  went  on  to  the  Scotch  capital, 
where  of  necessity  she  was  late  in  arriving,  Jackson, 
the  manager,  being  in  an  irate  frame  of  mind,  and 
seriously  contemplating  a  demand  for  the  £500.  It 
was  certainly  a  great  temptation  to  him  as  his  affairs 
were  in  a  particularly  bad  state,  and  such  a  sum  of 
money  would  have  been  a  godsend.  However,  the 
demand  would  also  have  meant  the  loss  of  Mrs. 
Jordan's  presence  on  his  boards,  and  probably  such  a 
retaliation  from  the  public  as  would  have  precipitated 
his  total  failure. 


Success  and  Failure  129 

So  he  bad-temperedly  waived  his  legal  right,  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  proceeded  to  charm  the  people  of  the 
North  into  gaiety,  also  to  renew  her  friendship 
with  her  uncle  John  Bland  and  his  family,  with  all  of 
whom  she  again  acted. 

Before  her  engagement  was  completed  she  had  news 
that  her  mother  was  likely  to  die,  and  as  she  had — 
of  all  the  children — been  the  only  one  to  help  or 
do  anything  for  that  mother,  it  was  scarcely  likely 
that  she  would  let  business  cause  her  to  desert  her 
at  the  last.  Thus  the  plays  had  to  proceed  without 
Dorothy,  and  poor  Grace  Philipps,  who  had  made 
one  great  mistake,  who  had  had  about  fifteen  years  of 
presumably  happy  married  life  with  a  man  who, 
tempted  beyond  his  strength,  left  her;  who  had 
struggled  hard  for  her  children  until  one  of  them 
gladly  took  up  the  burden  and  worked  for  her — Grace 
Philipps  died,  an  inconsiderable  person,  who  must 
have  left  the  world  little  poorer  for  her  loss,  though 
her  daughter's  grief  was  great.  In  the  Edinburgh 
Herald  some  time  later  appeared  the  following  lines, 
written  by  Dorothy  * — 

ON   THE   DEATH   OF  A  MOTHER. 

"  Be  ready,  reader,  if  thou  hast  a  tear, 
Nor  blush  if  sympathy  bestows  it  here  ! 
For  a  lost  mother,  hear  a  daughter's  moan, 
Catch  the  sad  sounds,  and  learn  like  her  to  groan. 
Yet,  all  those  groans,  sad  echoes  all  to  mine, 
Must  prove  faint  offerings  at  so  dear  a  shrine. 
If  feeble  these,  how  feebler  far  must  be 
The  tribute  to  be  paid  by  Poesy  ! 
The  bleeding  heart,  that's  whelm'd  with  real  woe, 
Affects  no  flowers  near  Helicon  that  grow  ; 
Sobs  and  swoln  sighs  ill  suit  smooth-numbered  lay, — 
The  tear  that  waters  cypress,  drowns  the  bay. 

1  They  were  also  published  in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine^  Dec.  1811, 
when  her  name  was  most  prominently  before  the  public. 

I 


130     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Hard,  then,  must  be  the  task,  in  mournful  verse, 

The  praise  of  a  lost  parent  to  rehearse. 

Mild  suffering  saint  exemplary  through  life, 

A  tender  mother,  and  a  patient  wife ; 

Whose  firm  fidelity  no  wrongs  could  shake, 

While  curb'd  resentment  was  forbid  to  speak. 

Thus,  silent  anguish  mark'd  her  for  his  own, 

And  comfort,  coming  late,  was  barely  known ; 

It,  like  a  shadow,  smiled  and  slipped  away, 

For  churlish  Death  refused  to  let  it  stay ; 

A  two-fold  dart  he  levell'd,  to  destroy, 

At  once,  both  mother's  life  and  daughter's  joy. 

Better  a  double  summons  had  been  given, 

To  wipe  out  sorrow's  score,  and  make  all  even, 

By  kindly  calling  both  at  once  to  Heaven  I " 

They  are  not  particularly  good,  but  they  give  some 
hints  as  to  the  mother's  character — 

"Whose  firm  fidelity  no  wrongs  could  shake, 
While  curb'd  resentment  was  forbid  to  speak." 

We  here  find  the  same  quality  which  animated 
Dorothy;  loyalty  under  loss  and  ill-treatment,  a  loyalty 
which  refused  to  divulge  the  truth  about  Francis  Bland 
or  to  give  rumour  the  chance  of  blaming  him. 

Jackson  had  no  idea  of  letting  Dorothy  off  scot  free, 
he  was  in  such  difficulties  that  he  probably  eagerly 
hailed  any  method  of  evading  his  payments,  so  she 
could  get  no  money  from  him,  and  had  to  borrow  to 
pay  her  expenses  in  Edinburgh.  The  company  of 
which  she  was  for  a  time  a  member  went  on  to  Glas- 
gow, and  then,  before  leaving,  the  Fords  wrung  from 
Jackson  a  bill  for  £100  to  be  paid  in  London.  He 
avenged  himself  by  publishing  various  statements 
against  Dorothy,  among  them  that  her  presence  had 
not  brought  him  any  advantage,  and  comparing  the 
receipts  from  her  acting  with  the  sums  that  Mrs. 
Siddons  had  drawn  from  the  public  earlier. 

From  Edinburgh  the  Fords  went  on  to  Chester,  and 
there  Jackson's  bill  was  returned  to  them  dishonoured, 


Success  and  Failure  131 

and  they  heard  of  his  doings  in  Glasgow,  which  drew 
a  public  letter  from  Dorothy,  explaining  the  straits 
to  which  she  had  been  put,  and  ending  with — 

"  I  have  now  entirely  done  with  the  subject,  and, 
thank  God,  with  Mr.  Jackson,  who,  I  hope,  by  his 
punctuality  to  pay  his  present  protested  note,  will  not 
compel  me  to  resume  any  acquaintance  with  him  by 
the  methods  the  law  points  out. 

"  P.S. — As  to  Mr.  Jackson's  comparative  statement 
of  the  receipts,  I  am  no  judge,  I  can  only  say  that  the 
houses  were  apparently  very  good  when  I  performed ; 
perhaps  it  would  not  have  been  amiss,  but  rather 
fairer,  if  he  had  said  that  in  the  year  1785,  from  whence 
he  drew  Mrs.  Siddons's  account,  that  lady  performed 
at  the  advanced  London  prices." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

A   RELAPSE 

"Apologies  for  plays,  experience  shows, 
Are  things  almost  as  useless  as  the  beaux. 
Whate'er  we  say  (like  them)  we  neither  move 
Your  friendship,  pity,  anger,  nor  your  love. 
Tis  interest  turns  the  globe  :  let  us  but  find, 
The  way  to  please  you,  and  you'll  soon  be  kind : 
But  to  expect,  you'd  for  our  sakes  approve, 
Is  just  as  though  you  for  their  sakes  should  love." 

VANBRUGH,  The  Relapse. 

IN  the  summer  of  1789,  George  Bland  was  acting 
at  Liverpool,  independently  of  his  sister,  and  there  he 
did  what  the  impecunious  young  man  so  often  Hoes,  he 
married.    Not  that  he  made  an  unworldly  choice,  but  it 
was  too  quick  a  one  to  be  the  result  of  anything  but 
sudden  attraction.    The  lady,  I  can  scarcely  call  her 
fair,  was  Maria  Romanzini,  whom  Daly  had  attempted 
to  win  in  1781,  and  who  had  been  acting  with  Dorothy 
at  Drury  Lane.    Her  child-life  had  been  one  of  hard- 
ship, for  her  mother — like  Topsy,  she  seems  to  have 
had  no  father — was  a  poor  Jewess,  who  was  glad 
enough   when    Cady,   the    hairdresser   at   the    Royal 
Circus,  suggested  that  the  little  one  had  sufficient  voice 
even  then  to  be  valuable  as  a  performer.    Through  his 
influence  the  child  was  articled  to  the  Circus,  doing 
little   recitations    at    a   very   small    salary.     As    she 
possessed  arch  humour  and  a  pretty  way  of  singing, 
she  soon  became  a  favourite,  and  when  the  Patent 
Theatre  made  an  attack  on  the  Circus,  because  of  the 
child  plays  acted  there,  she  was  one  of  the  company 
who  had  a  narrow  escape  from  imprisonment. 

In  appearance,  she  was  very  small  and  dark,  and 

132 


A  Relapse  133 

though  graceful  as  a  girl,  she  grew  too  broad  with 
advancing  years.  Her  deep  voice  was  effective  in 
operas,  and  in  plays  that  needed  much  singing.  Leigh 
Hunt  said  of  her  when  writing  on  The  Old  Actors, 
"  Mrs.  Bland,  the  favourite  little  singer,  with  a  voice 
like  her  name,  and  a  short,  thick  person,  and  dark 
face  to  match,  whom  her  sweet  ballads  made  ever 
welcome." 

The  urgent  need  to  live  seems  to  have  divested  both 
her  and  her  mother  of  any  steady  principle,  and 
various  stories  are  told  of  the  way  they  used  to  conform 
to  any  demand  which  the  mischievous  public  made 
upon  them.  The  Secret  History  of  the  Green  Room 
asserts  that,  when  in  Liverpool  in  1789,  Miss  Roman- 
zini  knew  that  there  were  a  great  number  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  the  town,  and  that  they  liberally 
patronized  those  of  their  own  persuasion,  so  she 
regularly  displayed  her  devotion  at  their  chapels.  But 
a  wicked  wag,  by  circulating  the  report  of  her  being 
a  Jewess,  obliged  her  to  sit  sewing  at  her  window  every 
Saturday  afternoon,  to  show  that  she  broke  the 
Sabbath;  and  the  better  to  contradict  the  assertion, 
she  made  her  mother  buy  a  live  pig  in  the  evening,  and 
go  to  every  person  with  whom  she  could  pretend 
business,  "  and  pulling  the  young  Sir  Joseph  Maubrey 
by  the  tail,  tell  that  it  was  for  the  dinner  of  her  and  her 
daughter  next  day." 

Romanzini  was  due  at  Drury  Lane  in  the  autumn 
of  1789,  but,  encouraged  by  Dorothy's  increase  of 
salary,  she  refused  to  return  unless  her  own  was  in- 
creased. This  the  management  would  not  agree  to,  so, 
after  a  few  weeks,  she  and  her  bridegroom  appeared  in 
London,  and  the  bride  took  up  her  work  at  the  old 
price. 


134     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

That  two  favourite  actresses  now  had  an  interest  in 
George  Bland  must  have  somewhat  embarrassed 
Kemble,  and  he  at  last  succumbed  to  the  pressure  put 
upon  him,  for  early  in  February  1790,  George  acted 
Sebastian  to  Dorothy's  Viola.  How  this  was  brought 
about  is  left  to  conjecture,  also  why  Dorothy  did  not 
act  at  all  in  the  autumn  of  1789.  Was  it  true  that  her 
increase  of  salary  was  not  being  paid,  as  it  was 
rumoured  in  the  summer  ?  or  was  it  that  she  was  using 
her  absence  to  force  Kemble  to  include  her  brother  in 
the  company?  Or  was  it  solely  because  a  third 
daughter  was  born  to  her  this  winter,  and  she  was 
probably  unable  to  work  in  the  preceding  months  ? 

From  February  1790,  however,  she  was  acting 
incessantly,  sometimes  as  much  as  five  nights  a  week, 
taking  several  new  plays  through  the  season,  by  which 
she  added  the  parts  of  Polly  Honeycomb,  Lsetitia 
Hardy  in  The  Belle's  Stratagem,  and  of  Lydia 
Languish  to  her  list.  She  also  created  for  her  benefit, 
in  March,  Little  Pickle,  in  The  Spoiled  Child,  a  play 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Richard  Ford,  but 
the  papers  of  the  day  asserted  that  Dorothy  herself 
was  the  author.  Boaden  suggests  that  it  was  an 
anonymous  production  by  BickerstafT,  which  is  quite 
likely,  Dorothy  altering  it  to  suit  her  ideas,  for  years 
later  she  had  a  play  acted  of  which  she  was  part 
author. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum,  a  little  slip  of  paper, 
relating  to  this  benefit  night,  which  runs : 

"Received,  27   March,   1790,  of  Mr.  Westley,  Thirty-nine 
pounds  17/7  in  full  for  my  benefit  balance  this  season. 

"DOROTHEA  JORDAN. 
£39 -i 7- 7-" 


A  Relapse  135 

As  Mrs.  Siddons  did  not  act  at  all  at  Drury  Lane 
this  season,  it  is  probable  that  Dorothy  was  more 
contented,  especially  as  her  brother  seemed,  at  last, 
to  have  won  a  position  of  independence.  George 
Bland  was  given  by  Kemble  the  really  good  salary 
for  a  beginner  in  London  of  £5  a  week,  an  arrange- 
ment which  lasted  some  time.  In  October  1791  he 
and  his  wife  went  with  the  Drury  Lane  Company  to 
the  Haymarket;  The  Bon  Ton  Magazine  comment- 
ing in  its  usual  frank  fashion  :  "  Those  who  heard  her 
masculine  pipe  and  the  effeminate  voice  of  her 
husband,  wonder  much  at  the  circumstance  of  a 
bouncing  boy." 

History  places  three  children  to  the  credit  of  the 
Elands;  this  bouncing  boy  of  1791,  and  twin  boys  in 
1792,  but  there  may  have  been  more.  About  the  twins 
The  Secret  History  of  the  Green  Room  tells  a  story 
apropos  of  Bland  :  "  The  character  that  has  given  him 
most  reputation  is  Arionelli,  in  The  Son-in-law,  which 
he  performed  at  the  Haymarket,  with  a  degree  of 
applause  that  might  have  pleased  a  Siddons  or  a  Dall.1 
He  assumed  the  Italian  Catastro  in  a  most  happy 
manner,  and  in  the  songs  displayed  not  only  good 
taste,  but  a  powerful  voice.  The  plaudits  he  received 
were  extraordinary,  and  the  good  humour  of  the 
audience  was  not  a  little  increased  when  he  said — 

"  '  Marriage  !    Oh  !  dat  is  quite  out  of  my  way.' 

"Wilson,  as  Cranby,  retorted  with  an  original 
sentence — 

" '  Indeed !  Then  how  came  you  to  have  twins 
t'other  day  ? '  A  retort  which  produced  a  universal 
burst  of  laughter." 

1  An  actress  then  well  known  at  Covent  Garden. 


136     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

For  several  years  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bland  acted 
together,  and  then  we  find  Maria  frequently  in 
London,  while  her  husband's  name  appeared  only  on 
provincial  bills.  So  George  and  his  wife  drifted  apart, 
and  then  gossip  asserted  that  when  they  were  together 
she  not  only  betrayed,  but  ill-treated  him.  Caulfield, 
the  comedian,  then  shared  her  home,  and  she  had  many 
children,  one  of  whom  died  tragically.  She  was  one 
day,  says  Oxberry  in  his  Memoirs,  working  some 
expensive  lace  into  a  dress,  and  being  suddenly  called 
from  the  room,  she  went  back,  after  an  interval,  to  find 
that  one  of  the  children  had  cut  the  lace  to  pieces.  In 
a  rage,  Maria  shook  the  poor  little  thing  violently,  and 
put  it  out  of  the  door.  At  length,  going  out  of  the 
room,  she  found  the  child  lying  dead  on  the  mat.  This 
horrible  event  brought  on  a  fit  of  insanity,  from  which, 
however,  she  recovered,  and  worked  many  years, 
though  she  was  insane  at  the  end  of  her  life. 

Bland,  alone,  cast  from  his  home,  and  unsuccessful 
— "  in  what  is  called  the  walking  gentleman  he  is  more 
than  useful,  his  person  and  deportment  being  very 
genteel,"  was  a  height  of  praise  with  which  he  could 
surely  have  cheerfully  dispensed — eventually  went  to 
America,  that  place  of  hope  for  English  actors,  and 
in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine .  f or  November  1807, 
appeared  the  following  paragraph — 

"At  Boston,  in  America,  about  four  months  since, 
in  the  utmost  poverty  and  indigence,  poor  Bland,  the 
brother  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  husband  of  Mrs.  Bland  of 
the  Theatre  Royal,  Drury  Lane." 

Poor  Bland  !  It  expressed  the  general  feeling  about 
a  man  who  was  not  clever,  but  who  won  general  affec- 
tion. Dorothy  Jordan  seemed  to  bear  Maria  Teresa  no 


A  Relapse  137 

malice,  however,  and  towards  the  end  of  her  life  spoke 
well  of  her  professional  qualities,  thus  there  may  have 
been  more  in  the  separation  than  is  revealed. 

It  would  probably  have  been  no  satisfaction  to 
Bland  to  know  that  his  successor,  Caulfield,  shared  his 
own  fate,  of  dying  alone  in  America,  though  it  was  not 
until  1815,  when  he  fell  down  in  a  fit,  and  expired  on 
a  Kentucky  stage. 

As  for  Mrs.  Bland,  it  was  not  until  January  1838 
that  a  morning  paper  announcement  ran  :  "  Mrs.  Bland 
died  this  day,  aged  75  ;  she  married  the  brother  of  Mrs. 
Jordan,  but  the  chances  are  that  those  who  never  aided 
her  living  are  not  likely  to  mourn  for  her  dead !  '  O 
world,  thy  slippery  turns ' — what  a  ballad  singer ! 
in  appearance  like  a  fillet  of  veal  on  castors — it  was 
vox,  et  praeterea  nihil — but  what  a  vox  !  " 

During  the  summer  and  second  half  of  the  year 
1790,  also  in  the  first  half  of  1791,  there  is  little 
reported  about  Dorothy's  movements,  though  she 
seems  to  have  been  as  busy  as  before;  and  it  was  at 
this  time  that  a  certain  scandal  began  to  be  whispered, 
which,  however,  will  be  detailed  in  the  next  chapter. 

She  had,  again  this  winter,  several  new  characters  to 
support,  which  always  pleased  her,  among  them  being 
The  Greek  Slave,  altered  from  an  old  play;  Better 
Late  Than  Never,  which  was  a  failure,  though  her 
acting  in  it  was  warmly  praised,  and  The  Intriguing 
Chambermaid.  During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1791 
she  was  anything  but  well,  and  began  to  spit  blood, 
which  probably  frightened  her  and  upset  her  usual 
happy  serenity.  The  doctor  ordered  her  a  thorough 
change  of  air,  so  after  a  week  or  so  at  Richmond,  she 
went  up  north  with  Richard  Ford,  who  was  at  this 


138     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

period  very  particular  in  accompanying  her  every- 
where. She  had  made  quite  good  business  terms  with 
Wilkinson,  that  she  should  act  on  shares  and  have  a 
clear  benefit  on  the  Saturday  in  Assize  week,  and  in  the 
following  week  she  was  to  act  conditionally  on  one 
night,  which  was  to  be  arranged  when  they  met. 

Wilkinson  advertised  her  to  play  on  the  first  night 
The  Country  Girl  and  The  Devil  to  Pay.  As  Miss 
Peggy  in  the  first  was  an  exhausting  part,  involving 
singing,  and  generally  an  encore,  Dorothy  said  that  she 
could  not  do  both  on  one  evening;  The  Devil  to  Pay 
must  wait.  So  she  followed  Peggy  with  a  play  entitled 
The  Mock  Doctor. 

The  only  account  of  the  trouble  in  Yorkshire  this 
summer  is  given  by  Tate  Wilkinson,  a  somewhat 
partial  witness,  and  certainly  some  discount  should 
be  made  from  this  record  of  Dorothy's  ill-doings. 
Though  The  Country  Girl,  as  first  given  by  Mrs. 
Brown,  was  warmly  received  in  York,  Tate  says  that 
the  Yorkshire  ladies  were  now  too  delicately  minded  to 
enjoy  it,  and  the  audience  was  not  enthusiastic ;  he  adds 
that  Dorothy  was  in  a  devil  of  a  humour,  and  that  she 
grumbled  to  him  that  had  the  Yorkshire  people  pos- 
sessed either  life  or  soul  she  would  have  sung  to  them. 

"  Sing !  "  he  besought  her,  and  indicated  a  song 
written  by  Miss  Ryder,  a  daughter  of  the  Ryder  to 
whom  she  had  owed  the  first  step  in  her  profession. 
She  could  not  refuse  that,  and  Wilkinson  says,  "  She 
did  sing  it,  and  the  whole  theatre  was  one  voice,  one 
soul,  one  mind,  to  burst  into  loud  encores,  and  to  do  her 
great  merit  justice."  But  the  reaction  came,  and  the 
evening  did  not  close  so  well  as  it  might  have  done. 

On   Tuesday  things  went  more  successfully  with 


A  Relapse  139 

The  Devil  to  Pay  and  The  Trip  to  Scarborough,  and 
with  hilarity  and  good  humour  the  Fords  supped  with 
Wilkinson.  But  with  each  night  matters  dragged 
more  slowly,  the  audiences  were  lukewarm,  and 
Dorothy's  spirits  were  dashed  ;  then  her  natural  devilry 
helped  to  spoil  matters.  She  uttered  scathing  com- 
ments on  the  public  who  could  not  appreciate  her,  and 
these  were  carefully  repeated  through  the  town.  Mrs. 
Esten  had  acted  Rosalind  to  them,  and  they  had  fallen 
in  love  with  her  languorous  speech  and  movements, 
which  they  preferred  to  the  more  roguish  acting  of 
Dorothy,  so,  according  to  Wilkinson,  she  began,  "  first 
to  pin,  then  to  sew,  and  by  degrees  to  bolt  and  bar  up 
all  her  acting,"  and  seemed  more  ready  to  offend  than 
conciliate,  declaring  that  she  had  a  double  weight  to 
carry,  a  stupid  audience  and  a  stupid  company.  On 
Friday  there  was  only  ,£25  in  the  house,  and  her  benefit 
the  next  night  was  poor.  After  the  second  act  she 
told  the  manager  she  would  not  play  in  York  again, 
but  he,  thinking  this  only  a  fit  of  temper,  announced 
her  for  Monday ;  which  was  curious,  seeing  that  he  had 
been  grumbling  about  the  bad  receipts. 

At  the  end  of  the  evening  the  actress  and  the 
manager  had  a  row,  she  "  almost  swearing  that  she 
would  not  act  again,  and  speaking  disrespectfully  of 
the  beggarly  engagement  she  had  entered  into."  This 
touched  Wilkinson — who  prided  himself  on  his 
liberality  and  justice — in  a  tender  spot,  and  he  read 
her  a  lecture,  adding  for  his  reader's  information — 

"  Surely  I  had  a  right  to  speak  when  so  wronged  : 
for  if  she  was  a  theatrical  duchess,  why  I  was  a 
theatrical  monarch — Who's  afraid  !  " 

Dorothy  reddened  and  looked  angry  at  the  lecture, 


140     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  though  Wilkinson  hoped  she  would  relent  and 
become  good-humoured,  "her  mind  settled  quite 
gloomy,"  and  he  says  she  never  forgave  him  his 
words. 

The  Fords  were  to  have  dined  with  the  Wilkinsons 
on  the  Sunday,  and  about  midnight  on  Saturday  the 
following  letter  was  delivered  at  the  house  of  the 
latter— 

"  I  have  mentioned  to  Mrs.  Ford  the  substance  of 
the  conversation  you  favoured  me  with  this  evening, 
and  stated  to  her  how  anxious  you  were  that  she  should 
enlarge  her  engagement ;  she  appears,  however,  to  be  so 
very  averse  to  it  that  I  must  desist  from  further  press- 
ing her.  The  night  due  to  you  she  is  ready  to  perform 
on  next  Wednesday,1  or  any  earlier  time  you  may  please 
to  appoint.  She  desires  me  to  add,  that  as  she  feels 
herself  very  unwell  and  much  fatigued,  she  is  desirous 
of  passing  a  day  or  two  in  the  country,  and  therefore 
hopes  that  you  will  excuse  her  from  doing  herself  the 
pleasure  of  waiting  upon  you  and  Mrs.  Wilkinson 
to-morrow. 

"  I  am,  dear  sir, 

'  Your  very  obedient,  humble  servant, 
"  RICHARD  FORD." 

That  there  was  something  more  than  Wilkinson 
described  to  make  Dorothy  dissatisfied  with  her  en- 
gagement was  very  possible,  for  the  writer  of  The 
Great  Illegitimates  declares  that  she  was  subject  to 
gross  insult  while  on  the  stage  from  the  interference 
of  some  rigid  moralists,  in  consequence  of  her  living 
1  She  was  to  perform  that  night  without  payment. 


A  Relapse  141 

with  Ford.  Wilkinson  was  probably  too  angry  to 
betray  this,  for  he  was,  where  his  feelings  were 
concerned,  quite  untrustworthy. 

Thus,  when  praising  a  new  young  actress  in  "the 
Jordan  line,"  he  said  that  Dorothy  must  be  a  dupe  to 
her  own  art,  if  she  supposed  that  a  girl  of  eighteen 
would  not  please  better  than  an  old  married  one  of 
forty-four"  Yet  when  the  book  in  which  this  was 
written  came  out,  Dorothy  was  only  then  thirty-four  ! 

Kemble  was  in  York  en  route  to  Newcastle,  and 
staying  with  the  Mayor,  who  was  a  personal  friend, 
and  this  probably  added  bitterness  to  Dorothy's  anger, 
for  the  Kemble-Jordan  feud  never  really  died  out. 
Much  has  been  said  about  the  greed  of  Kemble  and 
his  sister,  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  much  has  been  said  to 
prove  that  they  were  generous,  yet  the  ways  of  John 
Kemble  with  Tate  Wilkinson  were  scarcely  those  of  a 
generous  heart. 

In  his  embarrassment,  Wilkinson  went  to  Kemble, 
who  saw  Dorothy  Jordan,  and  arranged  that  she  should 
take  a  week  at  Newcastle  with  his  brother  Stephen  in 
his  stead,  while  he  acted  in  York.  To  Tate  Wilkinson 
he  dictated  terms. 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  shall  not  play  on  the  Wednesday,  as 
that  is  the  most  fashionable  night,  but  I  will  play, 
and,  as  I  act  for  fame,  not  for  money,  I  will  take  only 
thirty  guineas  in  payment." 

The  horrified  Wilkinson  ejaculated  "  Pounds  !  " 

"Then  that's  the  end  of  the  matter,"  equably 
returned  Kemble. 

"  Then  guineas  let  it  be,"  murmured  the  manager, 
who  was,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  jammed  in  a  corner." 

However,  Wilkinson  was  no  fool,  so  he  went  home 


142     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  wrote  to  Dorothy,  giving  her  the  alternative  of 
paying  him  thirty  pounds  or  being  advertised  as  per- 
forming on  the  Tuesday.  To  which  she  replied — 

"  SIR, 

"  I  agree  with  pleasure  to  your  proposal  of 
giving  you  thirty  pounds  rather  than  ever  perform  in 
York  again.  I  shall  return  to-morrow  and  settle  the 
balance  of  the  account. 

"  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Your  obliged,  humble  servant, 
"  D.  FORD." 

The  theatre  had  to  be  closed  on  the  Monday,  and 
Tate  Wilkinson  issued  the  following  notice — 

"Theatre  Royal,  York, 

"Monday,  August  15,  1791. 

"  Mr.  Wilkinson  is  under  the  disagreeable  necessity 
of  closing  the  theatre  this  evening,  as  Mrs.  Jordan  has 
positively  declined  any  future  performance  on  this 
stage  :  Mr.  Wilkinson  is  extremely  sorry  for  the  dis- 
appointment, but  has  the  unexpected  satisfaction  of 
informing  the  public  that 

MR.    KEMBLE 
Manager  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Drury  Lane 

(whose  abilities  are  universally  known  and  established), 
perceiving  Mr.  Wilkinson's  embarrassed  situation, 
has  kindly  offered  his  assistance  during  this  Festival 
Week,  and  will  appear  to-morrow,  in  the  character, 

OTHELLO 

MOOR  OF  VENICE." 


A  Relapse  143 

However,  the  clever  Tate  crowed  a  little  too  soon, 
for  he  was  not  yet  out  of  his  difficulty. 

Dorothy  returned  to  York  on  the  Monday,  and  paid 
him  the  £30,  saying  that  she  had  done  rightly,  and 
that  she  would  be  ruined  as  an  actress  if  she  were 
to  play  to  such  a  milk-and-water  audience.  But  the 
Kembles  dined  with  him  that  Monday,  and,  at  the 
table,  Kemble  calmly  announced  that,  after  all,  he 
would  not  play  for  thirty  guineas  on  Wednesday,  that 
it  was  not  worth  his  trouble  or  attention,  and  that  it 
would  be  to  slight  his  reputation  if  he  did  not  clear 
,£160  for  the  five  nights;  therefore  he  would  share 
the  house  that  night.  He  had  probably  heard  that 
that  was  the  arrangement  with  Mrs.  Jordan  during 
that  uncomfortable  week,  and  would  not  condescend 
to  play  for  less. 

The  thunderstruck  manager  refused  peremptorily, 
and  they  separated.  When  the  Tuesday  rehearsal  time 
came,  Kemble  was  in  bed,  having  given  orders  that  he 
was  not  to  be  disturbed;  which  put  his  friend,  the 
Mayor,  into  a  panic  for  his  own  reputation  with  the 
townspeople.  However,  Kemble  stolidly  refused  to 
appear  unless  "the  mistake  about  Wednesday  were 
put  right,"  and  at  one  o'clock,  Wilkinson  again  ex- 
plained affairs  to  the  public  and  announced  The  Battle 
of  Hexham  without  Kemble.  The  actor  was  probably 
just  trying  to  screw  as  much  as  he  could  get  out  of 
the  manager,  for  when  the  agitated  Mayor  suggested 
a  compromise,  the  terms  of  which,  however,  Wilkinson 
did  not  reveal,  both  parties  accepted  it.  So  the  busi- 
ness-like tragedian  played,  and  netted  nearly  £150 
for  the  rest  of  the  week. 

Mrs.  Jordan  set  out  for  Newcastle,  but  Kemble 


144     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

seems  to  have  played  her  as  false  as  he  did  Wilkinson, 
f  or  he  had  not  troubled  properly  to  instruct  his  brother 
Stephen  as  to  what  was  arranged,  nor  even  to  have 
learned  whether  this  change  of  plan  was  such  as 
Stephen  Kemble's  company  could  fall  into.  That 
actor's  people  were  prepared  for  Kemble,  they  knew 
nothing  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  farces,  and  could  not  get 
them  up  in  the  few  days  given  them,  so  they  did  not 
even  leave  Lancaster;  and  though  Newcastle  was 
billed  with  The  Country  Girl,  Mrs.  Jordan  was  the 
only  actor  present  in  the  town. 

It  was  probably  the  most  mortifying  summer 
Dorothy  had  known,  and  she  talked  of  bringing  an 
action  against  the  Kembles,  but  the  matter  died  down, 
though  it  is  scarcely  likely  that  the  anger  raised  was 
easily  allayed. 

Wilkinson  was  a  good  bargainer,  and  never  could 
reconcile  himself  to  the  fact  that  one  of  his  own  poorly 
paid  actresses  should  have  risen  to  such  a  height  as  to 
be  able  to  dictate  terms  to  him,  thus  in  his  books  he 
indulged  in  little  hits  at  Dorothy,  such  as  the 
following — 

"  But  now,  dear  Mrs.  Jordan,  you  do  like  the  cash, 
and  I  believe  and  hope  you  take  care  of  it;  that  you 
love  to  receive  it  I  know,  and  so  does  every  other 
manager;  you  have  made  us  all  feel  that.  You  will 
excuse  me  being  jocular." 

And  again — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  is  certainly  the  lucky  child  o'  fortune, 
billed,  caressed,  and  nursed  in  the  lap  o'  Nature ;  she 
is  undoubtedly  the  reigning  Thalia  of  the  age  1791, 
and  deservedly  so ;  and  to  her  comic  talent,  archness, 
whim,  and  fancy,  I  submissively  bow,  and  also  acknow- 


A  Relapse  145 

ledge  her  humanity  and  goodness  to  her  late  parent. 
But  am  compelled,  as  Mr.  Manager,  to  declare,  like 
Mr.  Foote  in  his  Devil  upon  Two  Sticks,  that  Mrs. 
Jordan,  at  making  a  bargain,  is  too  many  for  the 
cunningest  devil  of  us  all." 

When  Kemble  forced  the  poor  man  to  pay  him 
thirty  guineas  for  an  evening  which  Dorothy  was 
giving  free  of  charge,  he  was  certainly  out-doing  Mrs. 
Jordan,  and  when  Wilkinson,  in  his  turn,  forced 
Dorothy  to  pay  that  thirty  guineas,  really  the  evidence 
of  being  "  the  cunningest  devil  at  making  a  bargain  " 
seems  to  rest  with  Tate  Wilkinson. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   PRINCE   AND   MR.    FORD 

"  Behold  sportive  Jordan,  that  favourite  fair, 
Who  was  sent  by  mankind  to  avert  your  despair ; 
With  her  you've  successfully  baited  your  trap, 
She's  in  truth  the  best  feather  you  have  in  your  cap. 
How  you  got  her,  to  me,  I  must  own,  is  a  wonder, 
When  I  think  of  your  natural  aptness  to  blunder." 

ANTHONY  PASQUIN, 

ACTORS  have  always  desired  the  favour  of  princes, 
for  it  affects  their  social  status  and  heightens  their 
commercial  value.  Thus  Dorothy  was  fortunate  in 
that  she  had  not  been  in  London  a  month  before  the 
Prince  of  Wales  went  to  see  her  in  The  Country  Girl, 
was  present  when  she  played  Viola  on  November  16, 
1785,  and  often  saw  her  act  later. 

On  January  18,  1786,  "their  Majesties  seemed 
highly  entertained  with  the  pert  humour  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
in  The  Country  Girl  and  The  Rom-p"  That  autumn 
they  saw  her  in  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  and  they  were 
present  with  the  Princesses  when  she  played  in  Love 
for  Love  the  following  year.  They  may  also  have 
gone  on  other  occasions,  as  the  above  are  but  chance 
discoveries. 

Prince  William  Henry  also  must  have  seen  her  in 
the  first  autumn  of  her  London  career,  as  he  was  in 
London  at  the  end  of  September  and  part  of  October, 
and  from  time  to  time  he  had  many  opportunities  of 
studying  the  vivacious  young  actress.  But  it  was  not 
until  Dorothy  captured  his  heart  by  the  beauty  of  her 

146 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     147 

form  and  the  witchery  of  her  high  spirits  in  the  spring 
of  1790,  when  she  played  Little  Pickle  in  The  Spoilt 
Ckildy  that  he  could  have  thought  seriously  of  her. 
However,  as  he  was  appointed  to  command  the  Valiant 
in  May  of  that  year,  he  had  little  chance  of  allowing 
his  admiration  any  outlet,  and  it  was  perhaps  not  until 
the  end  of  November,  when  his  ship  was  paid  off  and 
he  was  withdrawn  from  the  sea  with  the  title  of  Rear- 
Admiral,  that  he  saw  Little  Pickle  again.  His  ship 
was  sailing  in  home  waters,  however^  during  October 
and  November  1790,  and  he  may  have  occasionally 
been  in  London  then. 

The  Duke — a  title  recently  conferred  upon  him — 
was  the  product  of  his  family  and  his  time ;  brutalized 
by  the  educational  lash  in  his  boyhood,  his  emotions 
stunted  by  lack  of  parental  affection,  treated  with  such 
parsimony  by  his  father  that  debt  became  an  inevitable 
condition,  inducted  into  licentiousness  by  his  licentious 
elder  brother,  he  had  the  vices  of  the  Carolian  Court 
without  any  of  its  picturesqueness.  Differently  trained 
and  circumstanced,  he  would  probably  have  been  quite 
an  amiable  and  respectable  man;  but  the  children  of 
George  III,  boys  and  girls  alike,  had  little  chance  of 
attaining  either  real  happiness  or  virtue. 

Between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  fifty-four  Prince 
William  made  several  attempts  to  evade  the  family 
Marriage  Act,  which  decreed  that  no  prince  or  princess 
should  marry  any  one  who  was  not  royal,  and  all  these 
attempts  being  frustrated,  he  did  quite  conveniently 
without  marriage.  Like  the  jolly  tar  in  the  song,  he 
was  credited  with  a  wife — or  two — in  every  port,  and 
his  erotic  doings  were  for  long  the  subject  of  waggish 
paragraphs. 


148     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

At  fourteen  he  was  taken  to  the  watch-house  for 
brawling  at  Vauxhall.  He  had  gone  to  a  masquerade 
there  as  a  young  sailor,  and  was  flirting  with  a  nun, 
when  a  Spanish  Grandee  began  to  pester  the  latter. 
High  words  ended  in  a  general  row,  and  all  the  party 
were  marched  off  by  the  watchmen.  When  the  young 
men  unmasked  before  their  captors  the  latter  heard — 

"  Eh,  George,  is  that  you  ? "  from  the  sailor  to  the 
Spanish  Grandee ;  and  "  Eh,  William,  is  that  you  ? " 
from  the  Spanish  Grandee  to  the  sailor.  This  episode 
earned  the  boy  William  banishment  on  the  Channel 
Fleet.  His  next  vagary  was  more  sentimental,  and 
intended  to  be  strictly  honourable.  For  at  sixteen 
he  fell  in  love  with  the  Hon.  Julia  Fortescue,  a  girl 
of  his  own  age,  and  one  of  the  rising  beauties  of  the 
Court.  As  the  Fortescues'  house  fronted  on  the  Green 
Park,  these  children  had  plenty  of  opportunities  to 
meet  and  discuss  their  approaching  marriage,  a  cere- 
mony only  prevented  "by  the  iniquitous  Marriage 
Act."  Then  the  affair  being  discovered,  the  little 
Julia  was  sent  in  disgrace  to  Scotland — where  she 
married  later — by  her  royally  disgraced  parents.  The 
boy  prince  was  shipped  off  again  to  Gibraltar,  and  then 
to  America  and  Jamaica;  at  which  last  place  the  story 
went  that  he  secured  the  convenient  absence  of  a  tire- 
some husband  while  he  consoled  the  fascinating  wife. 

Early  in  William's  reign  the  first  part  of  a  book  was 
published  and  dedicated  to  the  British  nation,  bearing 
the  title,  "Memoirs  and  Amorous  Adventures  by  Sea 
and  Land  of  King  William  IV.  Interspersed  with  One 

Hundred  Curious  Anecdotes.  By  Captain  M , 

R.N.,  who  has  the  honour  of  being  a  shipmate  of  his 
Majesty's."  Only  this  first  part  was  published,  and 


>,,,,,  • 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     149 

thus  not  many  of  the  hundred  curious  anecdotes 
reached  public  knowledge,  otherwise  many  more  love 
adventures  would  have  furnished  cause  for  merriment 
among  the  subjects  of  William  IV. 

During  the  two  years  William  spent  on  the  Con- 
tinent visiting  Hanover,  Brunswick  and  Osnaburg,  he 
got  into  innumerable  scrapes  both  over  cards  and 
women,  though,  or  perhaps  because,  his  pocket-money 
allowance  was  said  to  be  only  £100  a  year. 

This  visit  caused  a  great  scandal  a  few  years  later, 
for  when  his  brother,  Prince  Edward,  went  to  Hanover 
he  was  attacked  by  the  civil  authorities  of  that 
country,  who  demanded  that  Prince  William  should 
conform  to  their  laws  and  provide  for  the  child  of  a 
lady  whom  he  had  ruined.  Edward  wrote  to  William 
about  this,  who  told  him  to  disown  the  whole  affair. 
But  Hanover  was  not  to  be  treated  so  cavalierly. 
Mother  and  child  were  sent  to  England  to  make  the 
demand  publicly,  and  a  paragraph  appeared  in  The 
Times  detailing  the  whole  affair,  but  not  telling  exactly 
which  royal  Duke  was  the  culprit.  A  copy  was  sent 
to  William,  and  he  at  once  opened  negotiations  through 
his  lawyer,  Barton,  with  the  lady,  and  it  was  finally 
agreed  that  the  annual  sum  of  £100  should  be  paid 
until  the  child  was  of  age,  the  Duke  defraying  all  the 
expenses  of  their  return  to  Hanover. 

Many  of  the  writers  concerning  royalty  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  spoke  bitterly  of  the  Royal 
Marriage  Act,  as  though  the  sins  of  the  princes  arose 
from  the  fact  that  they  could  not  marry  any  one  they 
chose  and  when  they  chose.  It  is,  however,  quite 
certain  that  some  of  the  brothers,  if  left  in  perfect  free- 
dom, would  not  have  been  content  to  marry  only  once, 


150     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  some — Prince  William,  for  example — would  have 
had  many  wives.  It  is  more  or  less  proved  that  the 
Prince  of  Wales  married  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  and  there 
is  a  story  that  William  married  at  least  once  in  his 
youth  and  left  his  wife  to  languish.  This  story  was 
published  in  the  form  of  letters  by  a  well-known 
Leipzig  firm  in  1880,  and  the  translation  of  the  volume 
appeared  in  England  through  the  agency  of  Messrs 
Sonnenschein  &  Allen,  entitled  Caroline  von  Linsingen 
and  William  IV '. 

There  is  something  very  curious  about  this  story,  for 
the  names  of  Caroline's  people  were  truly  given,  and 
their  home  at  Luneberg  is  truly  described.  Lieutenant- 
General  Wilhelm  von  Linsingen,  the  father,  was 
entrusted  with  the  military  tuition  of  Prince  Ernest, 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  by  George  III,  and 
Caroline's  brother,  Ernest  von  Linsingen,  was  often 
at  the  English  Court.  From  time  to  time  during 
thirty  years  the  papers  announced  the  meeting  of  the 
princes  with  the  General  or  his  son,  as  in  1812  it  was 
reported  that  Clarence  and  the  Prince  Regent  "went 
down  to  Ipswich  and  dined  with  Baron  von  Linsingen, 
who  commands  the  cavalry  of  the  German  Legion." 

The  letters  in  this  book — only  vaguely  dated — 
describe  the  love  story,  the  clandestine  marriage  and 
its  termination.  The  editor  puts  the  dates  between 
1790  and  1792  ;  if  he  had  stated  them  as  being  between 
1783  and  1785  there  might  have  been  some  truth  in  the 
matter,  as  William  was  on  the  Continent  then.  But 
that  which  really  seems  to  disprove  the  idea  is  that  the 
Prince,  primitive  as  he  was,  could  not  have  written  the 
letters  ascribed  to  him  here.  And  is  it  possible  that 
the  William  we  know  could  have  been  filled  with  so 
holy  a  love  for  the  wife  he  had  married  that  he  would 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford      151 

pass  the  only  two  hours  he  had  in  her  company,  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  kneeling  arm  in  arm  with  her  at 
the  bedside,  making  vows  of  purity  and  honour  ? 

Thus,  beautifully  and  Germanically  sentimental  as 
is  this  story,  it  must  be  put  aside  as  fiction,  in  spite  of 
its  realism  in  personages,  for  the  Prince's  mind  and 
habits  were  totally  different  from  those  betrayed  in  the 
epistles  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  him.  As 
Grantley  Berkeley  says  in  his  reminiscences — 

"  Oaths  were  employed  in  conversation  by  men  of 
the  highest  rank  even  in  the  presence  of  ladies.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  and  his  brothers  adopted  it !  The 
Duke  of  Clarence  not  much  more  sparingly  than  the 
rest.  An  imprecation  commonly  began  every  sentence, 
the  Lord's  name  was  taken  in  vain,  and  the  speaker's 
own  soul  sometimes  consigned  to  perdition ; "  a  habit 
which  certainly  does  not  fit  in  with  Caroline's  descrip- 
tion of  her  royal  husband. 

Prince  William  indulged  in  many  other  amorous 
affairs,  notably  one  with  a  Portsmouth  belle,  while  he 
was  the  talk  of  the  town  in  1788  because  of  a  coloured 
girl  he  was  said  to  have  brought  home  with  him  on  the 
Pegasus  from  the  West  Indies,  and  who  rejoiced  in  (/ 
the  name  of  Wowski.  Gossip  and  paragraphists  said 
that  she  was  left  in  Plymouth,  generally  on  board  ship, 
and  The  World  announced  on  January  8,  "  The  royal 
sailor  is  very  observant  of  forms,  and  whenever  any 
decent  person  appears  Wowski  is  always  kept  in  the 
background.  On  board  ship  he  compares  her  to  a 
mole — who  in  sight  of  anybody  goes  under  imme- 
diately." Other  paragraphs  asserted  that  she  was 
playing  with  a  Newfoundland  dog  when  the  Prince 
Regent  went  to  see  his  brother ;  that  she  was  struggling 
with  the  alphabet  and  trying  to  crook  a  finger  over  a 


152     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

pen ;  and  her  presence  at  a  drawing-room  was  satirically 
discussed. 

In  1789  William  was  created  Earl  of  Munster  and 
Duke  of  Clarence  and  St.  Andrews,  and  with  this  he 
was  given  an  allowance  of  £12,000  a  year,  a  table  and 
covers  for  his  own  use  at  St.  James's  Palace,  the 
number  of  courses  to  be  limited,  and  a  house  at  Rich- 
mond, which  was  to  be  furnished  and  kept  up  for  him. 
This  latter,  often  spoken  of  as  the  Lodge  at  Richmond, 
was  Clarence  Lodge,  in  Kewfoot  Lane  (now  called 
Clarence  Street),  "  on  the  edge  of  the  old  Deer  Park," 
a  small  Georgian  house  on  the  boundary  between  Kew 
and  Richmond,  and  quite  close  to  the  latter  town.  The 
house  is  still  in  existence ;  three  or  four  steps  lead  up 
to  the  narrow  door  which,  as  Horace  Walpole  told  the 
Duchess  of  Orrery,  the  Duke  locked  up  himself  every 
night  that  his  servants  should  not  stay  out  late.  In  the 
rooms  where  Clarence  never  drank  at  dinner  "  but  a 
few  glasses  of  wine  "  the  poorest  Richmond  folk  now 
herd  in  their  tenement  rooms,  dirty  children  gaze  from 
the  two  windows  on  either  side  of  the  door,  and  rags 
of  blinds  obscure  the  row  of  windows  above;  in  its 
courtyard  a  tin  chapel  has  found  a  lodgment,  and  its 
gardens  are  filled  with  slum  cottages.  But  a  century 
and  a  quarter  ago  it  was  surrounded  with  a  green  park, 
the  silver  Thames  not  far  away,  and  the  Richmond 
theatre  quite  close. 

The  young  Duke  had  not  been  long  in  this  abode 
when,  in  spite  of  his  careful  supervision,  it  caught  fire, 
and  he  found  that  he  was  responsible  not  only  for 
restoring  the  house  but  replacing  the  furniture. 

Following  upon  this  accident,  he  took  Ivy  House, 
on  the  river  bank  above  the  ferry  at  Richmond, 
opposite  Cambridge  House  on  the  other  bank ;  a  pictur- 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     153 

esque  building  with  two  noble  columns  of  ivy-covered 
bay  windows.  In  this  house  it  is  asserted — quite  mis- 
takenly— that  Dorothy  joined  him,  and  the  cause  of  the 
mistake  is  a  letter  of  Horace  Walpole's  to  Miss  Berry, 
dated  September  4,  1789,  in  which  he  says,  "The 
Duke  of  Clarence  has  taken  Mr.  Henry  Hobart's  house 
point  blank  over  against  Mr.  Cambridge's,  which  will 
make  the  good  woman  of  the  mansion  cross  herself 
piteously,  and  stretch  the  throat  of  the  blatant  beast 
at  Sudbrook  (Lady  Greenwich),  and  of  all  the  other 
pious  matrons  a  la  ronde;  for  H.R.H.,  to  divert  lone- 
liness, has  brought  with  him ,  who,  being  still  more 

averse  to  solitude,  declares  that  any  tempter  would 
make  even  Paradise  more  agreeable  than  a  constant 
tete-a-tete" 

The  person  who  was  taken  there  by  him,  and  whose 
name  was  left  out  of  the  earlier  printed  editions  of  his 
letters,  was  a  very  different  person,  a  girl  named  Polly 
Finch,  "  sprung  from  the  Lord  knows  whom,  and  born 
the  Lord  knows  where,"  whose  qualifications  were  youth, 
vivacity  and  a  tolerable  share  of  good  looks,  with  a 
weak  and  uncultivated  mind.  This  affair  ended  in 
October  when  he  departed  again  for  the  West  Indies. 

In  December  1790  the  Duke  was  busy  having  his 
apartments  in  St.  James's  re-decorated,  and  The 
Gazetteer  commented  that  he  must  have  taken  lessons 
from  the  Duke  of  Queensberry,  for  he  had  a  door 
opened  in  the  outer  wall  of  the  parlour  under  his  bed- 
room, which  was  painted  to  have  the  resemblance  of 
bricks,  of  which  door  William  alone  kept  the  key. 

Much  has  been  said  to  prove  that  there  was  no  con- 
nection between  Dorothy  and  the  Duke  anterior  to  the 
autumn  of  1791,  and  this  was  perhaps  true,  yet  the 
Duke  was  so  thoroughly  attracted  to  her — probably  by 


154     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

that  personation  in  the  spring  of  1 790  of  Little  Pickle 
— much  earlier  than  this,  that  it  became  a  matter  of 
public  comment. 

As  early  as  March  15,  1791,  a  vulgar  caricature 
was  published  entitled, "  The  New  Papa  Disappointed ; 
with  Justice  Shallow's  attempt  to  charm  the  Brutes." 
This  showed  the  front  of  Dorothy's  house  in  Somerset 
Street,  with  a  young  man  in  black,  wearing  a  star  on  his 
breast  (Richard  Ford),  dancing,  beating  a  tambourine 
and  calling  to  an  organ-grinder  and  trumpeter,  repre- 
senting the  British  Public,  to  "  Come  along,  my  boys, 
that's  your  sort ;  keep  it  up  !  I  won't  commit  you  now, 
never  fear;  it's  rare  fun,  ain't  it?  and  all  gratis."  To 
this  the  organ-grinder  replies  aside,  "  Oh,  the  tremen- 
dous Justass  Midas !  Oh,  what  a  Solomon  is  Justass 
Midas !  "  On  the  balcony  of  the  house  is  a  doctor, 
holding  a  dead  baby,  marked  with  a  star  on  its  breast, 

and  shouting,  "  D your  noise,  Rascalls,  you'll 

disturb  Mrs.  Pickle,  who  has  just  made  a  faux  couch 
of  a  young  sea-gull." 

The  Duke  of  Clarence,  in  the  garb  of  a  buxom 
nurse,  leans  on  the  balcony  rail,  and  from  the  doorway 
below  an  old  woman  looks  up  at  them,  murmuring 
"  Bless  the  baby,  how  like  its  daddy !  what  a  pity  it 
should  be  a  slink !  1  Aye,  marry,  and  marked  with  a 
star." 

That  this  picture  should  have  been  published  early 
in  1791  proves  that  scandal  was  then  busy  with 
Dorothy's  name,  probably  quite  unjustly;  it  also  indi- 
cates that  the  fourth  Ford  child  was  still-born,  an  event 
which  must  have  taken  place  in  February,  as  Dorothy 
was  acting  on  March  the  I7th,  on  the  25th,  and  through 
April. 

1  A  term  for  a  cast  calf. 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     155 

There  had  been  a  curious  incident  on  December 
22,  1790,  when  for  her  benefit  Dorothy  acted  Celia, 
who  was  the  mistress  of  the  King's  son  in  The  Greek 
Slave,  an  incident  which  Boaden  declares  was  but 
coincidence.  For  this  play,  adapted  from  Beaumont 
and  Fletcher's  The  Humorous  Lieutenant,  Harry  Bun- 
bury  wrote  an  epilogue  which  Dorothy  had  to  declaim, 
part  of  which  ran  as  follows — 

11  How  strange  methinks  I  hear  a  critic  say, 
What !  she — the  serious  heroine  of  the  play  ! 
The  manager  his  want  of  sense  evinces, 
To  pitch  on  hoydens  for  the  love  of  princes, 
To  trick  out  chambermaids  in  awkward  pomp, — 
Horrid !  to  make  a  princess  of  a  Romp. 
'Depend  upon't,'  replies  indulgent  John, 
'Some  damn'd  good-natured  friend  has  set  her  on.' 
'  Pugh  ! '  says  old  Surly,  '  I  shall  not  expect 
To  see  Jack  Pudding  treated  with  respect ; 
Cobblers  in  curricles  alarm  the  Strand, 
Or  my  Lord  Chancellor  drive  six-in-hand. 
But  I've  a  precedent — can  quote  the  book — 
Czar  Peter  made  an  empress  of  a  cook."' 

This  epilogue  was  published  in  The  Bon  Ton 
Magazine  the  next  month,  but  was  not  connected  with 
the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  it  is  almost  a 
proof  that  there  was  nothing  serious  between  the  Duke 
and  Dorothy  then  that  that  scandal-loving  magazine 
did  not  begin  to  comment  on  this  subject  until  August 
1791,  when  it  announced,  "The  Duke  of  Clarence's 
penchant  for  a  certain  celebrated  actress,  notwithstand- 
ing what  report  says,  has  proved  unsuccessful.  The 
fact  is,  the  Ford  is  too  dangerous  for  him  to  cross  the 
Jordan." 

It  is  also  a  remarkable  thing  that  the  promoters  of 
this  paper  should  not  have  heard  the  whispers  which 
prompted  the  publication  on  March  15  of  the  carica- 
ture described  above. 

The  Bon  Ton  Magazine  declared  of  The  Greek 


156     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Slave  that  the  alterations  of  the  play  were  made  by 
Dorothy  herself,  "  done  with  no  uncommon  felicity," 
and  that  so  great  was  the  enthusiasm  on  her  benefit  that 
nine  crowded  rows  of  the  pit  were  laid  in  the  boxes, 
and  the  house  was  overflowing  in  every  part — this 
though  Mrs.  Siddons  had  acted  the  night  before,  and 
there  was  an  opera  at  the  Hay  market. 

Matters  had,  however,  come  to  a  sore  point  between 
Dorothy  and  Ford ;  she  demanded  with  more  insistence 
that  he  should  give  her  a  legal  position,  and  Ford  was 
torn  two  ways,  his  ambition  dragged  him  the  one  and 
his  love  of  ease  and  fatherly  affection  the  other.  The 
first  would  not  allow  him  to  do  what  Dorothy  wished, 
the  latter  made  him  intensely  jealous  and  determined 
to  hold  what  he  had  got.  During  the  spring  he 
shadowed  Dorothy  wherever  she  went,  saw  her  to  the 
theatre,  remained  in  the  Green  Room  and  saw  her 
home.  "  Dick  Ford,  ever  a  dramatic  amateur,  has 
lately  paid  particular  attention  to  the  acting  of  Mrs. 
Jordan."  He  ostentatiously  handed  her  about  at  Rich- 
mond as  Mrs.  Ford,  causing  Horace  Walpole  to  take 
the  marriage  seriously,  writing  in  September  :  "  Do  you 
know  that  Mrs.  Jordan  is  acknowledged  to  be  Mrs. 
Ford?"  adding  "but  she  does  not  quit  the  stage." 

Ford  watched  her  through  her  engagement  at  Rich- 
mond, and  went  on  that  disastrous  visit  to  Yorkshire 
with  her,  she  being  billed  as  Mrs.  Ford,  and  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  unevenness  of  her  temper  while 
there  had  some  association  with  the  trouble  between 
them. 

That  remark  of  Horace  Walpole's  must  indicate  the 
very  last  standpoint  that  Dorothy  made  before  she 
cast  the  whole  Ford  incident  away.  She  was  not 
actuated  by  love  for  the  Prince ;  the  one  love  of  her  life 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     157 

was  given  to  her  children,  and  she  hungered  also  to 
give  them  a  legitimate  father.  The  shame  of  illegiti- 
macy had  hung  over  her  from  her  baby  days :  in  her 
youth  she  had  writhed  under  the  scorn  of  her  father's 
people,  who  could  accept  the  erring  man  with  open 
arms,  but  condemn  the  erring  woman  and  the  innocent 
children  of  both.  In  her  youth,  too,  she  had  been 
forced  by  a  scoundrel  to  bear  an  illegitimate  child,  and 
now  again  a  weak  and  stubborn  man  was  proving  the 
falseness  of  his  character  and  giving  illegitimacy  to 
her  other  children.  She  knew  that  if  Richard  Ford 
married  there  was  no  law  to  make  him  support  his 
children  by  her;  he  could  turn  his  back  on  them, 
leaving  them  to  die  of  starvation  and  be  no  worse, 
except  for  the  sentimental  opinion  of  some  foolish 
people  brought  into  the  world  before  their  time.  It 
was  for  the  children  that  she  fought,  for  them  she 
begged  that  at  last,  after  five  years,  he  would  redeem 
that  solemn  promise  upon  which  he  had  won  her.  But 
in  spite  of  his  jealousy,  in  spite  of  his  desire  to  keep 
his  place  in  town  and  his  place  at  Richmond,  and  to 
share  the  carriage  supplied  by  Dorothy's  money,  in 
spite  of  all  he  would  not  marry ;  the  furthest  he  would 
go  was  to  say  to  every  one,  "  This  is  my  wife !  " 

For  Dorothy's  purpose  this  was  no  good.  Ford 
might  swear  through  thick  and  thin  that  she  was  his, 
but  without  the  legal  ceremony  he  could  leave  her 
at  any  moment,  feeling  no  moral  responsibility  for 
the  children. 

She  took  counsel  with  her  friends,  among  whom  was 
Lady  Francis  Lumm,  and  probably  her  father's 
brother,  the  second  Nathaniel  Bland,  then  living  in 
London.  The  author  of  The  Great  Illegitimates  says 
that  often  at  the  house  of  Lady  Lumm  the  conversa- 


158     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

tion  would  turn  upon  the  wooing  of  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  and  that  these  conversations  would  end  with 
Lady  Lumm's  uniform  observation,  "  I  shall  again  this 
evening  instil  into  her  mind  the  absolute  necessity  of 
sticking  to  Mr.  Ford,  for  I  am  well  convinced  that  no 
good  will  accrue  from  the  princely  association."  The 
author  continues,  "  This  advice  her  ladyship  never 
failed  to  inculcate,  making  our  actress  take  her  seat 
by  her  at  the  card-table,  when  she  would  at  intervals, 
in  a  half-whisper,  repeat  the  counsel  alluded  to." 

B'ut  Dorothy  demanded  an  honourable  return  for 
her  fidelity,  and  that  Ford  would  not  give.  The 
Prince  was  ready  to  promise  all  he  could — indeed,  all 
she  asked,  and  to  fix  his  promise  upon  parchment  with 
the  aid  of  lawyers.  However  long  Dorothy  looked  at 
the  situation  she  could  but  see  that  the  Prince's  offer 
was  better  than  Ford's  demand  to  take  all  and  give 
nothing ;  than  his  sullen  assertion  that  things  could  go 
on  as  they  were.  She  knew  that  they  could  not  go  on 
as  they  were,  for  the  relations  between  them  were 
terribly  strained,  and  so  at  last,  it  is  said,  she  gave  her 
ultimatum.  Within  so  many  days  Ford  was  to  ratify 
his  promise,  or  she  would  be  at  liberty  to  do  as  she 
thought  fit. 

Ford  followed  his  former  tactics  of  letting  things 
slide,  and  found  that  he  had  let  them  slide  once  too 
often.  It  is  odd  that,  behaving  as  he  did,  he  yet 
seemed  to  be  angry  and  sore  at  Dorothy's  desertion, 
and  anxious  to  pose  as  an  injured  man. 

Horace  Walpole  followed  his  September  letter  with 
one  dated  October  16,  1791,  saying  that — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan,  whom  Mr.  Ford  had  declared  his  wife 
and  presented  as  such  to  some  ladies  at  Richmond, 
has  resumed  her  former  name,  and  is  said  to  be  much 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     159 

at  a  principal  villa  at  Petersham,  which  I  do  not  affirm 
— far  be  it  from  me  to  vouch  a  quarter  of  what  I  hear." 

Clarence  had,  perhaps  with  some  such  arrangement 
in  his  mind,  bought  Petersham  Lodge  in  1790,  giving 
£12,000  for  it,  which,  it  was  said,  his  father  helped 
him  to  pay.  It  was  on  the  edge  of  Richmond  Park, 
about  a  mile  beyond  the  town. 

The  London  theatrical  season  began  in  the  middle 
of  September,  and  The  Bon  Ton  Magazine  of  October 
and  many  other  papers  abounded  in  paragraphs  upon 
the  association  of  the  Duke  and  the  actress,  which 
showed  that  negotiations  had  been  going  on  a  con- 
siderable time.  In  November  The  Bon  Ton  gave  a 
frontispiece  of  Clarence  and  Dorothy,  he  kneeling 
upon  one  knee,  she  sitting  upon  the  other,  her  arm 
round  his  neck  and  his  arm  round  her  waist,  he  fanning 
her,  she  smiling  at  him.  Little  Pickle,  the  accompany- 
ing text  declares,  "  studied  no  arts  to  attract  the  Prince, 
who  only  received  her  smiles  and  jokes  in  common 
with  others.  She  was  attached  in  friendship  and 
affection  to  the  father  of  her  children,  and  was  resolved 
to  resist  her  royal  suitor,  but  he  opened  his  campaign 
with  so  much  energy,  and  at  the  same  time  in  a 
manner  so  gentle  and  noble,  that  she  soon  yielded  to 
his  arms  and  arguments;  but  such  are  the  conditions 
of  her  submission  that,  should  he  at  any  time  forget  or 
break  the  bond  of  union,  she  would  be  in  a  much  more 
formidable  and  independent  state  than  ever."  It 
further  said  that,  as  she  gave  no  answer  to  several 
letters  of  love  and  generosity,  the  Prince  determined 
upon  a  personal  assault,  and,  by  the  aid  of  her  servant, 
contrived  one  night  after  the  play  to  obtain  access  to 
her  apartments. 

How  and  when  the  affair  was  arranged,  Richard 


160     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Ford  made  much  trouble  over  it.  He  was  a  lawyer, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  letter  of  the  law  seems  often 
to  cripple  the  power  of  deciding  simple  questions  of 
right  or  wrong.  That  Dorothy  should  attempt  to 
bind  him  was  unbearable,  but  it  was  also  an  infamous 
thing  that  she  should  consider  herself  free  of  bond  to 
him.  His  friends  and  relatives  took  his  part,  and 
inspired  spiteful  paragraphs  concerning  Dorothy's 
deserted  children,  and  her  wantonness  in  preferring 
a  royal  lover  to  sweet,  respectable  but  precarious 
domestic  bliss.  As  Boaden  remarks,  these  people 
knew  nothing  of  Ford's  privity  to  the  advances  made 
by  the  Duke  :  "  They  had  never  seen  him  at  the  wing 
of  the  theatre,  and  thrown  their  eyes  up,  as  he  must 
have  done,  to  the  private  boxes."  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  Ford  had  his  price,  for  some  time  later  he  was  in 
possession  of  Drury  Lane  shares,  and,  on  the  definite 
formation  of  the  police  magistracy  in  1792,  he  was 
given  the  Court  of  Shadwell,  and  also  became  Under 
Secretary  of  State. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1800  that  he  was  moved 
from  Shadwell  to  Bow,  which  gave  him  priority  over 
all  the  other  police  magistrates,  and  on  the  i6th  of 
December,  1801,  he  was  knighted.  "Thus,"  says 
Watkins,  author  of  the  Life  of  William  IV,  "  without 
any  merit  of  his  own,  he  obtained  a  fortune  and  a  title." 
It  is  doubtful  whether  his  later  honours  had  anything 
to  do  with  Dorothy  or  the  Duke,  for  all  the  magistrates 
of  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  two,  were  knighted. 

He  certainly  after  the  event  got  the  credit  of  selling 
Dorothy,  more,  perhaps,  because  he  and  his  friends 
became  so  clamorously  angry  than  because  there  was 
proof  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  he  and  his  friends 
were  able  to  inspire  many  paragraphs  against  Mrs. 


The  Prince  and  Mr.   Ford     161 

Jordan,  the  general  cry  being  that  she  was  cruelly  and 
unnaturally  deserting  her  children  for  grandeur. 

Thus  said  The  Bon  Ton  Magazine:  "  To  be  mis- 
tress of  the  King's  son  Little  Pickle  thinks  respect- 
able, and  so  away  go  all  tender  ties  to  children. 
Ecod !  she  says  she  will  now  be  company  for  some  of 
your  royal  Duchesses,  as  others  in  her  royal  line  are  !  " 

It  was,  however,  known  in  the  autumn  of  1791  that 
the  Duke  had  been  paying  his  suit  for  months,  that 
Ford  had  persistently  refused  to  marry  Dorothy,  and 
that  he  knew  all  that  was  going  on.  So  when,  the 
matter  being  completed,  a  dead  set  was  made  against 
Dorothy  by  his  friends  in  the  theatre  and  out,  the 
blame  of  it,  after  the  first  excitement,  was  ascribed  to 
Ford. 

So  great  an  impression  was  made  by  this  onslaught 
on  the  part  of  Ford  that  even  after  his  death  one 
biographer,  unaware  that  he  was  no  longer  living, 
accused  him  of  engineering  a  furious  attack  upon 
Dorothy  in  1809. 

She  seems  to  have  known  her  man  and  anticipated 
something  of  the  sort,  for  she  secured  two  exonerating 
notes  from  him  when  the  agreement  was  made  among 
the  three  of  them,  and,  with  the  first  rise  of  public 
blame,  sent  copies  of  these  to  the  papers. 

MR.  FORD'S  letter  to  MRS.  JORDAN  : 

"  Lest  any  insinuations  be  circulated  to  the  prejudice 
of  Mrs.  Jordan  in  respect  to  her  having  behaved  im- 
properly towards  her  children  in  regard  to  pecuniary 
matters,  I  hereby  declare  that  her  conduct  in  this 
particular  has  been  as  laudable,  generous  and  as  like 
a  fond  mother  as  in  her  present  situation  it  was  pos- 
sible to  be.  She  has  indeed  given  up  for  their  use 


every  sixpence  she  has  been  able  to  save  from  her 
theatrical  profits,  she  has  also  engaged  herself  to  allow 
them  £550  per  annum,  and  at  the  same  time  settled 
^50  a  year  on  her  sister.  It  is  but  bare  justice  to  her 
for  me  to  assert  this,  as  the  father  of  those  children. 

"  Signed, 

"  RICHARD  FORD. 

"  October  13,  1791." 

"  To  MRS.  JORDAN  : 

"  In  gratitude  for  the  care  Mrs.  Jordan  has  ever 
bestowed  on  my  children,  it  is  my  consent  and  wish 
that  she,  whenever  she  pleases,  see  and  be  with  them, 
provided  her  visits  are  not  attended  by  any  circum- 
stances which  may  be  improper  to  them  or  unpleasant 
to  me. 

"  RICHARD  FORD." 

Ford  did  not  deny  that  these  letters  were  written 
by  him,  but  he  did  make  a  protest  in  The  Morning 
Post  that  they  were  published  without  his  knowledge 
or  consent.  At  first,  perhaps,  he  intended  to  stick  to 
his  share  of  the  bargain,  for  he  decided  to  go  on  a 
visit  to  France,  and  crossed,  curiously  enough,  with 
the  writer  of  The  Great  Illegitimates — then  only  a 
youth — and  his  father,  who  says  that  Ford  was  in  no 
amiable  frame  of  mind,  for  those  friends  to  whom  he 
had  introduced  Dorothy  as  his  wedded  wife  had  been 
demanding  explanations. 

Two  or  three  years  later  Ford  married  a  Miss  Booth, 
an  amateur  artist  of  great  ability,  whose  father  was 
known  as  a  connoisseur  and  collector  of  pictures.  To 
them  three  children  were  born,  the  eldest  being  the 
Richard  Ford  who  won  fame  as  a  writer  upon  Spain. 
To  Sir  Richard  Ford  is  ascribed  the  introduction  of 
mounted  police  in  London. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    PRINCE 

"As  Jordan's  high  and  mighty  squire 

Her  play-house  profit  deigns  to  skim, 
Some  folks  audaciously  inquire 

If  he  keeps  her  or  she  keeps  him." 

PETER  PINDAR,  Junr. 

"Though  always  a  mistress  she  has  always  acted  up  to  the  rigid 
principles  and  economy  of  a  wife.  She  has  never  been  lavish  of  her 
favours,  but  ever  true  and  constant  to  the  man  she  has  lived  with." — 
ANONYMOUS. 

AMONG  those  who  now  joined  hands  with  Ford  and 
became,  therefore,  his  close  friends,  were  some  of  those 
actresses  who  had  been  jealous  of  Dorothy's  position, 
one,  unnamed,  being  reported  as  particularly  active. 
She  was  said  to  be  more  beautiful,  but  less  successful 
than  Dorothy,  to  be  living  in  open  adultery  and  to  be 
jealous  not  only  of  her  acting,  but  of  her  conquest  of 
royalty,  she  having  failed  to  bind  one  of  the  royal 
princes  to  herself.  Further  she  had  much  influence 
with  the  press,  and  later  historians  accused  her  of  the 
drink  habit.  This  could  only  have  been  Mrs.  Crouch, 
who  separated  from  her  husband  because  of  her  tran- 
sient connection  with  the  Prince  of  Wales ;  who  lived 
with  Kelly  the  actor;  who,  though  better  looking  than 
Dorothy,  was  distinctly  second  to  her  in  her  art,  yet 
always  desirous  of  taking  her  place;  who  gave 
luxurious  parties  to  which  she  invited  all  who  might 
serve  her,  and  who  suffered  severely  from  curious  falls 
and  accidents,  which  her  friends  deplored  as  misfor- 
tunes, but  her  enemies  regarded  as  retribution  for  a 
bad  habit. 

163 


164     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

This  actress  inspired  many  of  the  ill-natured  para- 
graphs which  appeared,  and  did  her  best  to  pave  the 
way  for  her  own  pre-eminence  by  playing  upon  the 
sentimentality  of  the  British  public.  Taken  as  a 
whole  this  public  loves  to  be  flattered,  to  be  told  that 
it  is  honest,  sincere  and  moral,  and  as  such  cannot 
countenance  anything  base.  So  it  was  made  to  believe 
that  their  Thalia  was  a  wicked  mother,  who  would  sell 
not  only  herself,  body  and  soul  for  a  thousand  a  year, 
but  her  children.  Thus  the  people  were  fired  to  a 
point  where  they  only  waited  opportunity  to  visit  their 
virtuous  wrath  on  Dorothy's  head.  The  Great  Ille- 
gitimates declares  that  this  actress  even  went  to  the 
length  of  writing  letters  to  the  Duke  with  the  hope — 
which  was  unavailing — of  prejudicing  him  against 
Dorothy. 

But  before  the  affair  came  to  its  height  the  agree- 
ment between  Dorothy  and  the  Duke  was  made  and 
signed,  there  being  diverse  reports  concerning  it,  the 
general  assertion  being  that  she  was  given  an  allow- 
ance of  £1000  or  ,£1200  a  year,  with  an  additional 
£500  a  year  if  the  Duke  left  her.  Upon  this  some  one 
started  the  cry  of  mercenary,  of  immoral  barter,  and 
the  booby  public — in  reality  excited  and  pleased  at 
the  royal  favour  showered  upon  its  favourite  actress 
— at  once  took  the  bait,  and  joined  in  the  cry,  the 
paragraphs  flying  from  column  to  column  and  ring- 
ing through  every  newspaper  sheet  in  London.  The 
Morning  Chronicle  remained  her  friend,  and  went  to 
the  other  extreme  in  the  following  note  on  Novem- 
ber 29,  1791 — 

"Among  the  ungenerous  attempts  which  have  been 
made  to  lower  Mrs.  Jordan  in  the  public  estimation, 


The  Prince  165 

may  be  ranked  the  information  that  she  has  made  a 
mercenary  agreement  with  her  present  protector.  .  .  . 
Although  she  has  settled  half  her  future  income  from 
her  profession  and  all  that  she  has  saved  in  it  upon 
her  children,  she  has  absolutely  rejected  every  idea  of 
settlement  or  pecuniary  aid  herself.  Her  independ- 
ence is  in  her  talents,  the  unrivalled  excellence  of 
which  is  evidently  the  cause  of  so  much  unmanly 
scurrility  having  lately  appeared  against  her."  But 
the  Chronicle  protested  too  much,  for  undoubtedly  a 
settlement  was  made. 

During  this  autumn  another  member  of  the  Bland 
family  came  to  London  to  qualify  for  the  bar,  a  cousin 
of  Dorothy's,  son  of  that  James  Bland  who  had 
been  given  the  possession  of  Derryquin  Castle.  This 
young  man  went  to  see  his  uncle  Nathaniel,  younger 
brother  of  Francis  Bland,  and  there  he  heard  a  version 
of  the  transaction  which  was  probably  true.  For 
Nathaniel,  Dorothy's  uncle,  had,  as  has  been  said, 
been  kind  to  his  brother's  deserted  children,  and  had 
done  his  best  for  young  Francis,  the  eldest  son,  who 
it  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extracts  had  not 
repaid  his  care. 

The  long  letter  from  which  this  quotation  is  made 
was  written  from  the  Temple  Coffee  House,  Devereux 
Court,  on  November  12,  1791,  to  his  father  by  Francis 
Christopher  Bland,  subsequently  the  grandfather  of 
Mr.  J.  Franklin  Fuller  of  Dublin,  to  whom  I  owe  so 
much  information  about  the  family : 

"  I  have  seen  my  Uncle  Nathaniel,  who  received 
me  very  cordially,  gave  me  a  good  dinner,  and,  I  think, 
a  hearty  welcome.  He  said  he  would  now  call  me 
Frank,  as  he  had  for  the  second  and  last  time  dis- 


carded  the  other  Frank,  who  has  again  behaved  very 
ill  to  him.  Mrs.  Jordan  is  now  kept  by  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  from  whom  she  received  .£3000  upon  the  nail 
and  a  settlement  of  £1000  a  year,  which,  if  the  Prince 
was  to  leave  her  to-morrow,  he  cannot  take  away  from 
her.  I  think,  with  this  and  thirty  guineas  a  week,  her 
theatrical  salary,  she  may  very  well  provide  for  the 
cashier'd  Captain.  Sir  Francis  (Lumm)  is  not  yet 
arrived  in  Argyle  Street.  .  .  .  Lady  Lumm  is  very 
bad,  and  is  obliged  to  be  drawn  about  from  one  room 
to  another  in  an  arm-chair." 

As  Dorothy  was  probably  in  touch  with  this  uncle 
of  hers,  the  actual  fact  of  what  the  settlement  was 
may  have  been  made  known  to  him  by  her.  It  must 
be  agreed  that  if  a  settlement  was  considered  necessary 
when  a  legal  marriage  took  place,  it  was  even  more 
necessary  in  such  circumstances  as  Dorothy's,  and  that 
she  was  right  to  take  what  steps  she  could  to  guard 
herself. 

This  is  the  only  mention  I  have  found  of  £3000 
down,  and  from  a  curious  piece  of  evidence  given  by 
the  Gazetteer  of  November  28  it  seems  to  be  a  fact 
that  she  did  receive  a  sum  of  money  at  this  time.  The 
paragraph  was  headed — 

"LITTLE    PICKLE    IN    DISTRESS 

"If  there  were  not  something  more  fanciful  than 
commendable  in  the  distress  of  any  person  so  situated 
as  this  lady,  we  should  not  be  found  to  introduce  the 
topic,  but  as  it  is,  it  may  as  well  be  given. 

"Only  eleven  days  ago  Little  Pickle  was,  as  she 
called  it,  in  great  distress.  She  wanted  £300,  and 
this  being  refused  by  the  person  from  whom  she 


The  Prince  167 

expected  it,  she  determined  to  raise  it  peremptorily 
by  the  sale  of  her  furniture.  A  broker  and  his  clerk 
were  employed  two  days  in  appraising ;  then  she  came 
to  town,  said  her  distress  was  over,  and  gave  them  a 
,£io  note  to  go  and  laugh  at  it,  as  she  said." 

Thus  while  out  of  town  she  had  secured  a  sum  of 
money  from  which  to  relieve  herself  of  trouble. 

Some  time  between  1789  and  1791 — the  old  bio- 
graphers were  very  loose  about  dates — Dorothy  is  said 
to  have  received  a  substantial  addition  to  her  income 
"  by  the  death  of  a  near  relative  to  her  mother,"  which, 
together  with  her  theatrical  emolument,  brought  her 
income  up  to  £3000  per  annum  (Secret  History  of  the 
Green  Room].  This  legacy  is  said  by  most  writers 
to  have  been  antecedent  to  her  connection  with  the 
Duke,  but  it  is  never  further  explained.  It  is  not  easy 
now  at  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years 
to  say  from  whom  it  came,  but  it  may  have  been  from 
her  aunt,  Blanch  Scuddamore  Philipps,  otherwise 
Mrs.  Williams,  who  died  in  1788,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight  years.  She  was  well-to-do,  and  may  have  left 
the  niece,  who  was  burdened  with  so  many  family 
responsibilities,  something  to  help  her  discharge  them. 

In  the  letter  by  Francis  Christopher  Bland,  the 
cashiered  captain,  the  other  Frank  mentioned,  is 
Dorothy's  eldest  brother,  who  had  been  helped  by  his 
father's  brother  Nathaniel,  and  who  had  evidently 
more  than  once  repaid  his  care  with  ingratitude,  as 
well  as  spoilt  his  own  chances  professionally. 

The  new  connection  with  the  Duke  meant  the  read- 
justment of  domestic  affairs.  Though  Ford  had 
written  of  Dorothy  going  to  see  his  children,  there  is 
no  evidence  that  he  retained,  nor  that  she  was 


1 68     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

separated  from,  them;  and  when  the  place  at  Rich- 
mond was  discontinued,  it  was  necessary  to  find 
them  another  home ;  and  this  may  explain  the  remarks 
in  the  papers,  which  raised  some  curiosity,  announc- 
ing that  "  little  Pickle "  and  the  Duke  were  several 
times  seen  walking  westward  in  the  afternoon.  It 
was  the  Gazetteer  which  discovered  the  reason  for 
this,  and  informed  the  world  that  the  lady  had  taken 
a  house  at  Brompton,  "  not  in  the  Row,  but  in  the 
town,  which  is  more  private."  Here  it  is  very  prob- 
able that  the  children  lived  for  a  short  time,  but  a 
year  or  so  later  a  little  house  was  taken  for  them  on 
Ham  Common,  causing  a  wag  to  say  that  thenceforth 
it  would  be  known  as  Doll  Common. 

The  great  public  excitement  over  Mrs.  Jordan  took 
place,  not  in  Old  Drury  Lane,  but  in  what  up  to  that 
time  had  been  called  the  Opera  House,  and  then  was 
known  as  the  King's  Theatre,  Haymarket.  For  it 
had  been  decided  that  Old  Drury  was  not  sufficiently 
large  or  up-to-date,  and  that  therefore  it  must  give 
place  to  a  more  commodious  building.  Its  demolition 
began  in  the  summer  of  1791,  and  the  winter  term  was 
opened  in  the  Haymarket,  September  22,  with  a 
farcical  prelude  written  for  the  occasion,  and  named 
Poor  Old  Drury;  The  Haunted  Tower  and  The 
Panel,  in  which  Dorothy  acted  Beatrice. 

From  that  date  Dorothy  played  with  great  vigour, 
and  Boaden  says  that  no  other  great  actress  laboured 
as  she  did;  she  played  twenty-four  nights  in  two 
months,  and  very  frequently  two  parts  in  one  night; 
then,  if  there  were  no  other  attraction,  she  would  be 
put  up  for  three  nights  running.  He  comments  upon 
this,  that  if,  in  such  a  course  of  duty,  indisposition 


The  Prince  169 

sometimes  caused  an  apology  to  be  made,  there  was 
obviously  a  reasonable  ground  for  it  without  resorting 
to  caprice  or  blaming  her  private  engagements.  But 
he  adds  that  it  began  to  be  whispered  that  she  was 
able  to  play  if  she  chose,  or  that  if  she  was  not  very 
well  she  was  not  confined  to  her  room,  and  if  she  could 
get  out  at  all  she  ought  to  be  acting. 

Twenty-four  nights  in  two  months  may  not  seem  a 
heavy  task  to-day,  but  there  was  more  strain  when  the 
piece  was  changed  every  evening,  and  also  Dorothy 
sometimes  took  two  heavy  parts  in  one  night.  At  this 
period,  however,  all  her  parts  were  old  and  well  worn, 
which  Dorothy  considered  unfair,  for  she  knew  that 
a  new  play  might  mean  a  new  success,  and  if  it  did  not 
make  her  more  popular,  it  would  tend  to  brighten  up 
the  lustre  which  was  around  her  name. 

At  the  end  of  November  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion 
was  on  the  boards,  and  when  the  audience  assembled 
to  see  this  favourite  play  on  Saturday  the  26th  the 
management  announced  that,  as  Mrs.  Jordan  had 
been  taken  violently  and  alarmingly  ill,  the  play  would 
be  changed  to  High  Life  below  Stairs. 

The  audience  had  evidently  been  waiting  for  some 
announcement  of  this  sort  to  give  an  opening  for  a 
demonstration,  for  instantly  an  extraordinary  clamour 
arose.  The  people  stamped,  bawled,  groaned  and 
shouted — 

"  Return  the  money  !  " 

"  Why  did  you  not  put  a  notice  on  the  doors  ?  " 

"  Mrs.  Crouch  !  we  will  only  have  Mrs.  Crouch ! 
with  her  there  is  no  occasion  to  lament  the  absence  of 
Mrs.  Jordan." 

So  declared  the  Gazetteer,  and  other  papers  not 


170     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

only  reported  the  disturbance  joyfully,  but  added  their 
share  of  criticism ;  "  papers  over  which  the  Bacchante 
above  alluded  to  possessed  great  influence,  railed  at 
Mrs.  Jordan  with  the  most  unmerciful  abuse;  truth 
and  falsehood  were  brought  forward  with  the  same 
readiness  to  stigmatize  her,"  etc. 

So  on  the  night  of  the  26th  the  audience  were  given 
their  will,  and  Mrs.  Crouch — who  was  quite  ready  for 
the  situation — took  the  part  of  Matilda,  another  actress 
taking  her  character.  After  the  second  performance 
of  this  part  by  her  it  was  reported  that  when  she 
appeared  she  was  received  with  seven  or  eight  dis- 
tinct general  and  long  plaudits.  "  They  are  the 
decrees  of  the  public  that  Mrs.  Jordan  shall  have  that 
part  no  more,  whether  it  is  held  by  Mrs.  Crouch  or 
any  other  person.  One  good  we  may  venture  to  pre- 
dict from  the  conduct  of  the  audience,  that  there  will 
be  fewer  illnesses  this  season  at  either  theatre  than 
can  be  remembered  at  any  other."  The  Public 
Advertiser  joined  in  the  howl  with — 

"  Amidst  the  clamour  on  Saturday  night  '  No 
Jordan '  was  distinct.  An  English  audience,  merely 
because  a  performer  in  a  very  narrow  cast  of  parts 
has  been  successful,  are  not  to  be  insulted.  Mrs. 
Jordan  may  rest  assured,  notwithstanding  nature  has 
well  formed  her  for  certain  characters — for  her  art  in 
acting  is  very  trifling — she  can  be  better  spared  from 
the  stage  than  many  who  give  themselves  less 
consequence." 

From  Mrs.  Crouch  the  paragraph  writers  turned  to 
Mrs.  Goodall,  who  took  Lydia  Languish's  part  during 
the  next  week,  and  congratulated  themselves  and  the 
world  that  this  elegant  play  had  been  relieved  from 
the  boisterous  vulgarity  with  which  it  had  been  de- 


The  Prince  171 

formed,  and  that  the  acting  of  Miss  Farren  and  Palmer 
seemed  to  be  improved  by  the  superior  performance 
of  Lydia. 

The  Morning  Chronicle  told  the  public  that  with 
the  utmost  authority  it  could  state  that  Mrs.  Jordan 
had  suffered  from  severe  indisposition,  having  been 
bled  on  Sunday  morning  by  Dr.  Keate  and  still  being 
much  indisposed.  But  for  a  whole  week  the  audience 
condemned  her,  and  shouted  for  Mrs.  Crouch,  prob- 
ably enjoying  the  fun,  until  Mrs.  Crouch's  prettiness 
and  daintiness  failed  to  keep  flowing  the  magnetism 
with  which  Dorothy  seemed  to  inspire  her  characters. 

That  which  added  fuel  to  the  fire  and  kept  anger 
alive  was  the  fact  that  early  on  the  Sunday  evening 
she  was  seen  to  leave  the  house  in  a  carriage  with  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  and  the  following  note  from  the 
Gazetteer,  which  at  this  period  made  a  cult  of  reporting 
Mrs.  Jordan,  always  taking  the  double  duty  of  instruct- 
ing and  reflecting  the  public  mind  and  often  with 
mischievous  intent,  is  worth  recording — 

"  And  it  is  now  with  great  pleasure  that  we  inform 
Mrs.  Jordan's  admirers,  who  may  have  been  uneasy 
on  her  account,  that  yesterday  she  set  off  in  a  post- 
chaise  and  four,  from  her  house  in  Somerset  Street, 
with  the  Most  High  and  Most  Puissant  Prince  His 
Royal  Highness  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence 
in  England  and  St.  Andrew's  in  Scotland,  Earl  of 
Munster  in  Ireland,  an  Admiral  of  the  Royal  Navy, 
K.G.  and  K.T.,  for  his  seat  at  Petersham." 

If  Mrs.  Jordan  had  gone  away  on  the  Saturday  it 
might  have  been  definitely  judged  that  the  illness  was 
an  excuse  only ;  but  as  she  remained  in  Somerset  Street 
and  was  attended  by  a  doctor  that  day  and  Sunday,  it 
was  probably  a  reality,  though  had  she  known  how 


172     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

seriously  it  would  have  been  taken  she  might  have 
made  an  effort  to  go  through  with  her  work. 

Some  of  these  papers  had  in  September  declared 
that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  again  in  a  fair  way  to  increase 
the  population,  and  the  two  historians  upon  the  life 
of  King  William,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Watkins  and  the 
Rev.  William  Wright,1  attribute  her  illness  on  the 
night  of  September  26  as  due  to  a  confinement.  This 
was  scarcely  possible,  though  it  might  have  been  due 
to  another  miscarriage. 

Certainly  on  the  Monday,  perhaps  on  the  Sunday, 
Dorothy  would  have  learned  of  the  row  at  the  theatre, 
and  have  rightly  judged  that  it  would  be  useless  for 
her  to  return  to  the  stage  for  some  days,  for  a  theatre 
mob  was  like  a  beast  of  prey,  ready  to  tear  its  greatest 
favourite  equally  with  its  most  hated  bore.  Thus  for 
a  space  Mrs.  Crouch  sat  on  a  pedestal  and  hugged 
herself  with  triumph,  hoping  that  at  last  she  had 
managed  to  sweep  from  her  path  the  one  person  who 
seemed  able  always  to  put  her  in  the  second  place. 

In  spite  of  her  banishment  from  London,  Dorothy 
did  not  sit  and  mourn;  rather  did  she  amuse  herself 
in  the  country,  taking  part,  among  other  entertain- 
ments, in  a  gathering  given  by  the  Duke  to  his  Rich- 
mond friends,  November  30.  Clarence  may  truly 
have  been  said  to  be  wanting  in  tact,  for  during  this 
month  he  had  promised  to  go  to  a  party  given  by  a 
Mrs.  Bouverie,  and  with  the  utmost  coolness  he  asked 
whether  he  might  bring  a  lady  with  him.  To  this  Mrs. 
Bouverie  answered  that  any  lady  he  wished  to  intro- 
duce would  be  welcome.  When  the  evening  arrived 
who  should  accompany  him  but  "  Mrs.  Pickle," 

1  As  these  two  histories  are  identical,  save  for  later  news  in  one 
concerning  the  King,  the  Rev.  William  Wright  was  probably  but  a 
pseudonym  for  Watkins,  in  order  to  give  an  old  book  a  new  lease  of  life. 


The   Prince  173 

hitherto  accepted  in  that  house  as  Mrs.  Ford.  The 
ladies  present  said  nothing,  Mrs.  Jordan  was  very 
entertaining,  sang  a  number  of  droll  songs,  told  a  few 
stories,  and  Mrs.  Bouverie  did  not  mention  Mrs.  Ford  ! 
There  was  probably  much  consultation  in  the  Peter- 
sham Lodge  circle  over  the  serious  theatrical  situation, 
for  the  Duke  had  no  idea  of  Dorothy's  remaining  idle ; 
so  during  the  week  succeeding  the  fiasco  of  the 
Saturday  the  following  letter  was  sent  out  to  the 
papers,  addressed  from  the  Drury  Lane  Treasury 
Office- 

11  SIR, 

"  I  have  submitted  in  silence  to  the  unprovoked 
and  unmanly  abuse  which  for  some  time  past  has  been 
directed  upon  me,  because  it  has  related  to  subjects 
about  which  the  public  could  not  be  interested ;  but  to 
an  attack  upon  my  conduct  in  my  profession,  and  on 
the  charge  of  want  of  gratitude  and  respect  to  the 
public,  I  think  it  is  my  duty  to  reply.  Nothing  can 
be  more  cruel  or  unfounded  than  the  information  that 
I  absented  myself  from  the  theatre  on  Saturday  last 
from  any  other  cause  than  real  inability  from  illness 
to  sustain  my  part  in  the  entertainment.  I  have  ever 
been  ready  and  proud  to  exert  myself  to  the  utmost 
of  my  strength  to  fulfil  my  engagements  with  the 
theatre  and  to  manifest  my  respect  for  the  audience, 
and  no  person  can  be  more  grateful  for  the  indulgence 
and  applause  with  which  I  have  been  constantly 
honoured.  I  would  not  intrude  upon  the  public  an 
allusion  to  anything  that  does  not  relate  to  my  pro- 
fession, in  which  alone  I  may  without  presumption 
say  I  am  accountable  to  them;  but  thus  called  on  in 
the  present  instance  there  can  be  no  impropriety  in 


174     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

my  answering  those  who  have  so  ingeniously  attacked 
me,  that  if  they  could  drive  me  from  that  profession 
they  would  take  from  me  the  only  income  I  have  or 
mean  to  possess ;  the  whole  earning  of  which  upon-  the 
past  and  one  half  for  the  future  I  have  already  settled 
upon  my  children.  Unjustly  and  cruelly  traduced  as 
I  have  been  upon  this  subject,  I  trust  that  this  short 
declaration  will  not  be  deemed  impertinent,  and  for 
the  rest  I  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  justice  and 
generosity  of  the  public, 

"  Yours,  etc., 

"D.  JORDAN." 

The  response  to  this  in  the  form  of  an  open  letter 
was  published  on  December  3  by  those  papers  which, 
having  condemned,  were  not  too  virulent  to  retract. 

"To  MRS.  JORDAN. 
"  MADAM, 

"  As  your  very  sensible  and  feeling  appeal  to 
the  public  must  have  completely  done  away  any 
momentary  unfavourable  impression  that  might  have 
been  made  by  the  industrious  malice  that  has  so  long 
and  so  laboriously  been  exercised  at  your  expense 
— if  any  impression  has  been  made,  which  I  by  no 
means  admit  to  have  been  the  case,  except  in  the  con- 
tempt that  has  been  excited  against  its  authors — 
justice  requires  that  you  should  immediately  recom- 
mence your  theatrical  exertions,  and  in  the  applause 
that  you  will  receive  exact  the  severest  retribution  from 
your  base  and  dastardly  libellers. 

"  AN  ADMIRER  OF  REAL  MERIT." 

This  was  turning  the  tables  with  some  complete- 


The  Prince  175 

ness,  but  it  was  not  until  a  week  had  passed  that  an 
announcement  of  Dorothy's  reappearance  was  made, 
and  The  Morning  Chronicle  of  December  10  added 
the- paragraph  :  "  Mrs.  Jordan  is  particularly  prohibited 
from  singing  by  her  physician,  because  the  exertion 
will  renew  the  spitting  of  blood." 

Dorothy  appeared  that  night,  and  every  means  was 
taken  by  herself  and  her  friends  to  ensure  a  good 
reception.  The  Prince  of  Wales,  with  Col.  St.  Leger, 
Count  Belsance  and  Major  Hanger  were  in  one  box, 
the  Duchess  of  Gloucester  with  her  son,  Prince 
William,  was  in  another,  and  many  other  interested 
friends  to  the  Duke  were  in  different  parts  of  the 
house.  The  Duke  of  Clarence  himself  stood  behind 
the  scenes  on  the  King's  side  of  the  house,  and 
received  Mrs.  Jordan  when  she  left  the  stage,  handing 
her  into  her  carriage  at  the  end. 

The  crush  outside  the  theatre  at  the  beginning  was 
so  great  that  several  hundreds  were  unable  to  get  in, 
and  Mrs.  Jordan's  first  appearance  on  the  stage  was 
welcomed  with  reiterated  shouts  of  applause,  though 
a  few  unreconcilables  hissed.  The  tumult  subsiding, 
she  came  forward,  and  in  a  voice  clear  enough  to 
penetrate  every  part  of  the  house,  said — 

"  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN, 

"  I  should  consider  myself  as  totally  unworthy 
of  the  distinct  favour  and  approbation  I  have  ever 
received  from  you  if  the  smallest  mark  of  your  dis- 
pleasure did  not  sensibly  afflict  me.  Give  me  leave  to 
assure  you  that  I  never  absented  myself  from  the 
theatre  but  when  compelled  to  it  by  real  indisposition. 
Ever  since  I  have  had  the  honour  and  happiness  of 
appearing  before  you,  it  has  been  my  pride,  my  unre- 
mitting study  to  endeavour  to  entertain  and  amuse 


176     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

you,  and  I  trust  I  may  while  so  employed  consider 
myself  as  under  your  protection." 

Boaden,  who  was  present  in  the  theatre  that  night, 
owns  that  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  it,  adding  his 
criticism  that :  "  While  making  the  protest  on  the  stage 
her  manner  was  extremely  good;  the  little  hardship 
that  sat  upon  her  brow,  and,  like  a  cloud,  kept  back 
the  comic  smile  that  but  waited  their  cheer  to  burst 
forth,  the  graceful  obeisance  that  followed  her  com- 
plete triumph  (for  it  was  complete),  and  the  mode  in 
which  she  resumed  her  task  to  delight,  after  she  had 
personally  suffered  pain — were  all  inimitable." 

Of  this  event  The  Great  Illegitimates  grandilo- 
quently said :  "  Such  is  the  creature  doomed  to 
encounter  the  shafts  of  some  despicable  wretch,  who 
from  personal  hatred,  or  more  probably  suborned  to 
do  the  work  of  a  hidden  assassin  of  character  (mean- 
ing Richard  Ford),  embodies  his  venom  in  the  filthy 
columns  of  the  most  venal  of  prints,  thus  attempting 
to  stab  a  reputation  too  permanently  established  in  the 
good  opinion  of  the  public." 

These  "most  venal  of  prints"  now  proceeded  to 
congratulate  the  public  on  retaining  a  charming  actress 
who  would  no  doubt  long  continue  to  deserve  their 
kindness,  and  who  had  certainly  suffered  much  more 
than  could  be  deserved  even  if  the  suspicions  relative 
to  her  had  not  been  sufficiently  removed. 

So  ended  this  exciting  episode,  though  the  hints 
that  she  intended  to  retire  from  the  stage  were  kept 
alive  by  her  enemies. 

But  if  Dorothy's  faults  were  allowed  to  be  buried 
for  a  time,  those  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  were  well 
canvassed;  if  Dorothy  was  accused  of  sharing  his 
establishment  from  mercenary  motives  alone,  the 


The  Prince  177 

Duke  was  charged  with  a  mercenariness  which  was 
far  meaner.  The  Bon  Ton  and  many  other  periodicals 
asserted  that  he  was  so  short  of  money  that  he  collected 
Mrs.  Jordan's  salary  in  person,  and  even  took  it  in 
advance  on  the  night  of  the  performance.  As  early 
as  November  3  it  was  reported  at  the  end  of  a  para- 
graph that :  "  We  have  only  to  add  that  as  Banker 
to  Her  Highness  he  actually  received  her  week's 
salary  from  the  Treasurer  on  Saturday  last !  "  Ten 
days  later  Peter  Pindar,  Jun.,  gave  to  the  laughing 
gossips  the  verse  which  heads  this  chapter.  Other 
gibes  followed,  one  paper  going  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  Duke  forebade  Dorothy  to  appear  unless  the 
money  were  first  paid. 

In  the  middle  of  December  a  caricature  was 
published,  entitled  "  Saturday  Morning,"  or  the 
"  Theatrical  Pay-day,"  in  which  the  theatrical  manager 
stands  on  one  side  of  a  counter  and  the  Duke  on  the 
other,  the  former  bowing,  and  saying :  "  We  under- 
stand as  much — you  are  welcome  each  week  and  we 
wish  you  a  good  Benefit  with  your  bargain."  The 
latter  murmurs,  while  sweeping  a  lot  of  gold  coins  into 
an  earthenware  vase :  "  My  precious  eyes  and  limbs, 
this  belongs  to  the  Jordan,  but  it  is  mine,"  etc. 

Punch  declared  years  later  that  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  was  often  behind  the  scenes  in  Drury  Lane 
Theatre,  adding,  "  indeed,  it  is  said  that  the  royal 
autograph  is  extant  in  the  Saturday  Treasury  book  for 
Mrs.  Jordan's  salary." 

Unfortunately  that  Treasury  volume  has  since  dis- 
appeared from  the  world  of  books  that  are  no  books. 

The  caricaturists  were  extremely  active  over  the 
royal  love  affair,  and  skits  of  all  sorts  were  published, 
some  shocking  in  their  vulgarity,  all  more  or  less 


178     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

coarse.  December  2 ,  1791,  saw  one  issued  giving  a  pic- 
ture of  the  stage,  Dorothy  looking  horribly  ill  sitting 
on  the  Duke's  knee,  and  he  offering  her  a  glass  of  gin. 

"  Indeed,  indeed,  I  am  indisposed,  upon  my 
honour,"  she  is  saying,  to  which  the  Duke  replies — 

"  My  poor,  dear  little  Pickle.  the  lubbers,  I 

wish  I  had  them  lashed  fast  to  the  main  rigging,  I'd 
give  them  a  dozen  a-piece." 

Earlier  than  this  Dorothy  had  been  shown  as  stand- 
ing before  a  mirror,  dressed  in  purple  and  wearing  a 
duchess's  coronet.  "  Oh,  Gemini,"  she  is  saying,  "  is 
that  gay,  fine  thing  me?  If  it  is,  and  the  glass  be  true, 
I  am  no  less  than  my  Lady  Duchess !  " 

From  that  time  the  title  of  duchess  was  flung  at  her 
in  and  out  of  season,  her  brother  George  coming  in 
for  a  share  of  the  compliments  in  such  paragraphs  as  : 
"  Interest  is  making  to  have  Bland  the  actor  knighted ; 
it  is  so  awkward  to  have  the  brother  of  a  Duchess  a 
plain  Mister.  The  title  he  solicits  is  Sir  Simpleton 
Squeekum."  Or  :  "  Little  Eland's  husband  has  lately 
added  to  the  family  escutcheon  the  arms  of  a  prince, 
and  he  triumphantly  bears  it  about  with  him  on  every 
occasion." 

Years  later,  when  Dorothy  was  cast  for  the  part  of 
Sir  Edward  Bloomly  in  Fred  Reynolds's  comedy  of 
Cheaf  Living,  and  she  was  inclined  to  resent  it,  for 
she  was  then  a-weary  of  breeches  parts  and  of  playing 
the  dissipated  youth,  the  irritated  manager  Wroughton 
said — 

"Why,  you  are  grand,  madam,  quite  the  duchess 
again  this  morning  !  " 

"  Very  likely,"  replied  Dorothy,  "  for  you  are  not 
the  first  person  this  very  day  who  has  condescended 
to  honour  me  with  the  title." 


The  Prince  179 

Then,  without  the  slightest  pique  and  with  all  her 
characteristic  humour,  she  told  how,  having  to  dis- 
charge her  Irish  cook  for  impertinence,  when  she  paid 
her  the  wages  due  the  woman  showed  her  a  shilling, 
and  banging  it  down  on  the  table,  cried — 

"Arrah,  me  honey,  with  this  thirteener  won't  I  sit 
in  the  gallery?  and  won't  your  Grace  give  me  a 
curtsy  ?  and  won't  I  give  your  Royal  Highness  a  howl 
and  a  hiss  into  the  bargain?  " 

A  picture,  drawn  by  Gillray  and  given  to  the  grin- 
ning public  on  October  24,  was  called  "  The  Devil  to 
Pay :  the  Wife  Metamorphosed,  or  Neptune  Repos- 
ing," in  which  the  Prince  is  shown  asleep,  but  Dorothy 
is  sitting  up  in  bed,  and  saying  in  bewilderment : 
"  What  pleasant  dreams  I  have  had  to-night !  Me- 
thought  I  was  in  Paradise  upon  a  bed  of  violets  and 
roses.  Ha!  bless  me!  where  am  I  now?  Am  I  in  a 
bed  ?  The  sheets  are  sarcenet  sure,  no  linen  ever  was 
so  fine.  What  a  gay  silken  robe  have  I  got.''  Oh, 
heaven  !  I  dream.  Yet  if  this  be  a  dream  I  would  not 
wish  to  wake  again.  Sure  I  died  last  night  and  went 
to  heaven  !  "  Some  of  the  letterpress  upon  this  is  too 
coarse  to  be  repeated  in  full,  and  the  plate  itself  was 
one  of  a  number  rigidly  suppressed. 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  poor  woman — a  separation  had 
just  been  arranged  between  her  and  the  Prince  of 
Wales  because  of  his  marriage — had  never  any  kind- 
ness for  Dorothy.  Their  cases  were  so  similar  in  spite 
of  the  marriage  ceremony,  which  she  knew  to  be 
illegal,  that  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  clinging  as  she  did  to 
social  station,  could  not  afford  to  be  friendly. 
The  cartoonists  fastened  upon  this  in  such  pictures 
as  "The  Pot  calling  the  Kettle  Black,"  which 
showed  the  buxom  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  wearing  a  blue 


180     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ribbon  with  Ich  Dien  worked  upon  it  in  her  hair, 
turning  her  back  upon  Dorothy,  and  asking  how  she 
dares  to  enter  her  presence,  or  to  think  that  she  would 
keep  company  with  such  a  pickle.  "  Pray,  sir,"  she 
continues  to  the  Duke,  "  keep  your  creature  out  of  my 
sight,  I  am  an  honest  woman,  I  am." 

Dorothy  responds  in  like  manner,  pointing  out  that 
if  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  has  as  many  thousands  as  she  has 
hundreds  (the  former  was  accredited  with  obtaining 
£10,000  a  year),  then  she  was  the  worse  of  the  two. 
Clarence  says  apologetically  to  the  Prince  :  "  Why, 
you  know,  George,  we  leaped  the  broom  as  well  as 
you,  and  though  you  palavered  a  good  deal  to  quiet 
the  lady's  conscience,  I  did  it  with  less  ceremony, 
that's  all." 

Another  suppressed  plate  was  of  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  running,  with  broken  china  tied  to  his  coat- 
tails,  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  and  other  women  following  and 
scolding  him,  while  the  Duke  utters  unrepeatable 
language. 

Another  skit,  "  A  Virtuous  Flame,"  represented  the 
Duke  of  York  and  his  bride  passing  before  a  house, 
at  the  window  of  which  sit  Clarence  and  Mrs.  Jordan, 
she  in  the  least  covering  of  garments;  and  a  further 
jeer  at  the  royal  family  was  entitled  "Vices  Over- 
looked at  the  New  Proclamation."  In  this  the  Queen, 
hugging  bags  marked  £3,000,000,  sits  at  a  table 
opposite  the  King,  whose  money  bags  contain 
£5,000,000,  denoting  avarice;  drunkenness  is  exem- 
plified by  the  Prince  of  Wales  being  led  home  by 
watchmen,  gambling  by  the  Duke  of  York  at  cards, 
and  debauchery  by  Clarence  and  Mrs.  Jordan 
embracing. 

By  the  end  of  December  Ford  had  returned  to 


p  > 


a    5 


u     £ 
5     < 


z  a 

~    H 

M 

H    ,i 


s  o 

O    x 


The  Prince  181 

England,  and  he  joined  the  band  of  Dorothy's 
enemies,  attending  Mrs.  Crouch's  revels  and  going 
there  to  little  suppers  after  the  play.  He  also  recom- 
menced his  visits  behind  the  stage  and  to  the  Green 
Room,  and  probably  was  not  above  making  himself 
obnoxious  to  the  woman  whom  he  had,  morally, 
deserted.  If  the  papers  are  to  be  trusted  the  Duke 
asked  Sheridan  to  forbid  Ford's  entry  behind  the 
scenes,  for  the  following  was  published  by  one  of  the 
morning  journals  on  December  13 — 

'  The  naval  officer,  who  too  often  infests  the  scenes 
of  the  Haymarket  to  the  annoyance  of  every  one  who 
belongs  to  the  house,  but  one,  had  the  modesty  the 
other  day  to  desire  Mr.  Sheridan  to  forbid  Mr.  Ford 
the  privilege  of  appearing  behind  the  scenes.  Mr. 
Sheridan  very  properly  told  the  naval  officer  that 
Mr.  Ford's  behaviour  as  a  gentleman  precluded 
such  a  prohibition,  and  that  in  point  of  right  Mr. 
Ford  had  as  much  pretension  as  (Mr.  Sheridan) 
himself." 

That  this  left-handed  alliance  provoked  much 
curiosity  and  no  displeasure  at  Court  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  King  and  Queen  went  to  the  theatre  on 
the  4th  of  January,  1792.  Since  the  King's  illness  they 
had  shunned  Drury  Lane,  for  they  hated  Sheridan  as 
one  who  encouraged  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  his 
assumption  of  power,  but  their  interest  was  too  keen 
for  resistance ;  so  we  find  the  King  and  Queen  occupy- 
ing a  box  "at  a  distance  of  three  from  the  stage," 
where  it  was  easier  to  see  every  corner  than  from  the 
stage  box;  six  of  the  Princesses  were  in  the  box  on 
the  left  of  their  parents,  the  Duke  and  the  Duchess 
of  York  and  the  Duke  of  Clarence  being  in  a  box 
exactly  opposite.  "  Their  Majesties'  gratification 


1 82     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

broke  forth  in  the  most  rapturous  of  expressions,"  said 
The  Advertiser. 

A  bad  accident,  however,  preceded  this  perform- 
ance, for  the  public's  anxiety  to  see  how  their  sovereign 
would  look  upon  Mrs.  Jordan  had  brought  overwhelm- 
ing crowds,  and  the  Royal  Theatre,  Haymarket,  was 
a  place  of  narrow  passages  and  steep  steps.  One 
man  was  trampled  to  death,  and  one  woman  terribly 
injured  in  the  struggle  to  get  down  the  stairs  to  the 
pit.  This  was,  however,  hidden  from  the  royal  visitors. 

The  oft-repeated  story  of  the  King's  comment  on 
his  son's  new  domesticity  may  or  may  not  be  true, 
but  it  is  certainly  characteristic  of  George's  love  of 
economy. 

"Clarence!  Clarence!  how's  this?  You — you  keep 
an  actress — keep  an  actress  !  " 

"  Yes,  Sire." 

"Ah  !  how  much  d'ye  give  her,  eh?  " 

"  A  thousand  a  year,  Sire." 

"A  thousand  too  much,  too  much  !     Five  hundred." 

Some  wag  later  added  that  the  Duke  wrote  to 
Dorothy  (there  was  really  no  need  for  him  to  write) 
and  repeated  the  parental  dictum,  and  that  she,  tear- 
ing off  the  bottom  of  a  play-bill  upon  which  was 
printed  "  No  money  returned  after  the  raising  of  the 
curtain  !  "  enclosed  it  in  an  envelope  to  him. 

Dorothy  Jordan  was  quite  outspoken,  and  she  was 
not  a  fine  lady,  but  she  had  much  of  good  sense,  which 
would  have  condemned  such  a  vulgarity.  Also  I  find 
that  the  usual  announcement  at  the  bottom  of  a  London 
play-bill  was  simply,  "  No  money  to  be  returned !  " 
Thus,  in  any  case,  the  latter  part  of  the  sentence  must 
be  regarded  as  embroidery. 


CHAPTER   XI 

DOMESTICITY   AND   WORK 

"  Need  any  bard  despair, 
If  Jordan  serve  and  Bannister  be  there?" 

M  Mrs.  Jordan,  delightful  Mrs.  Jordan,  whose  voice  did  away  the  cares 
of  the  whole  house,  before  they  saw  her  come  in." — LEIGH  HUNT. 

DOROTHY  JORDAN  was  not  exempt  from  a  certain 
vanity  which  expresses  itself  in  all  ages,  that  of 
having  her  portrait  painted,  and  there  are  an  extra- 
ordinary number  of  her  portraits  still  in  existence, 
though  our  National  Portrait  Gallery  does  not  pos- 
sess one.  She  was  represented  as  Nell,  Peggy, 
Priscilla  Tomboy,  Hypolita,  Lucy,  Fidelia,  Phaedra, 
Isabel,  Matilda,  Rosalind,  with  Falstaff,  and  as  the 
Comic  Muse.  Among  the  artists  were  Romney,  who 
painted  six  pictures  of  her;  Hoppner,  who  painted 
three,  his  Mrs.  Jordan  as  Hypolita  being  judged  by 
some  critics  as  his  masterpiece;  Gainsborough, 
Morland,  W.  A.  Chalmers  and  others. 

One  of  the  earliest  portraits  painted  of  Dorothy  was 
that  now  known  as  The  Country  Girl,  by  Romney,  her 
first  sitting  for  this  being  on  November  17,  1786.* 
Twelve  times  between  that  date  and  January  15,  1787, 
did  she  go  to  Romney's  studio,  always  between  one 
and  two  in  the  day,  her  address  being  at  that  time 
5  Gower  Street.  Concerning  the  pose  of  this  picture 
a  note  given  from  Sir  Henry  Russell's  MS.  presents 
her  characteristically — 

^  by  Humphry  Ward  and  W.  Roberts. 


184     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

"  I  recollect  hearing  Romney  describe  her  as  she 
came  to  sit  to  him  for  her  picture.  For  some  time 
they  could  hit  upon  no  attitude  that  pleased  them  both  : 
whatever  the  one  proposed  the  other  rejected;  at  last 
Mrs.  Jordan,  pretending  to  be  tired  and  to  be  going 
away,  sprang  out  of  her  chair,  and  putting  herself  into 
an  attitude,  and  using  an  expression  belonging  to  her 
popular  part  in  The  Romp,  said — 

"'Well,  I'm  a-going.' 

"  Romney  instantly  exclaimed,  '  That  will  do  ! '  and 
in  that  attitude  and  uttering  that  expression  he  painted 
her." 

This  portrait  was  intended  to  represent  Priscilla 
Tomboy  in  The  Romp,  but  when  engraved  in  1788, 
by  John  Ogborne,  it  was  called  Peggy  in  The  Country 
Girl,  and  has  always  since  retained  that  name. 
Though  Dorothy  spent  some  time  in  sitting  for  the 
portrait  she  evidently  neither  took  possession  of  it  nor 
paid  for  it,  for  it  was  not  until  November  26,  1791, 
that  it  left  Romney's  studio,  having  become  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  had  paid  seventy 
guineas  for  it  to  the  artist,  and  who  ordered  it  to  be 
sent  to  Petersham  Lodge. 

This  picture  must  have  appealed  to  Romney,  for 
he  made  three  versions  of  it,  one  of  which  was  given 
by  the  Duke  to  his  daughter  Amelia,  who  married 
Viscount  Falkland,  this  being  now  in  the  Falkland 
collection ;  a  second  was  in  the  possession  of  Dorothy's 
eldest  son,  the  Earl  of  Munster,  and  though  this  is 
said  to  have  been  sold  to  the  late  Baron  F.  de  Roths- 
child, it  still  hangs  in  the  present  Earl  of  Munster's 
drawing-room.  Another  copy  was  in  1894  in  the 
possession  of  Sir  Charles  Tennant.  The  picture  which 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  retained  for  forty  years  hung 


Domesticity  and  Work         185 

in  his  dining-room  at  Bushey  Park,  and  when  Queen 
Adelaide  died  in  1849  our  national  jester  and  exponent 
of  true  sentiment,  Punch,  told  its  readers  the  follow- 
ing anecdote  :  Upon  a  certain  benefit  the  actor  Dow- 
ton  waited  upon  the  sailor  Duke,  and  was  received 
with  the  old  kindness  and  simplicity.  In  the  course 
of  the  interview,  the  Duke  observed  the  actor  look 
significantly  at  a  portrait  over  the  chimney  —  the 
portrait  of  Mrs.  Jordan.  "  Yes,  Dowton,"  said  the 
Duke,  "she  was  an  excellent  woman;  and,  by  the 
way,  I'll  tell  you  a  little  story  about  that  picture.  It 
always  hung  there,  but  some  time  before  I  was  married 
to  the  Duchess  I  caused  it  to  be  removed.  Well, 
shortly  after  I  brought  the  Duchess  home,  I  found  one 
morning  the  picture  in  its  old  place.  *  This,'  said  the 
Duchess,  '  was  done  at  my  desire.  I  discovered  that 
the  picture  had  long  hung  there ;  it  was  the  picture  of 
the  mother  of  your  children,  and  it  was  not  fit  that  it 
should  be  displaced.  You  must  gratify  me  and  let  it 


remain.' 


The  Garrick  Club  possesses  a  Romney  portrait  of 
Dorothy,  and  there  are  several  others.  Romney,  like 
Greuze  and  Lely,  painted  a  certain  expression  into 
the  faces  of  his  sitters  which,  while  adding  to  the 
regularity  of  their  beauty  and  the  sweetness  of  their 
bearing,  perhaps  helped  to  lose  something  of  indi- 
viduality and  character.  Thus,  comparing  all  the 
portraits  together,  that  of  her  in  the  part  of  Hypolita 
gives  probably  the  most  characteristic  likeness. 

Hoppner  was  the  first  to  produce  an  elaborate  sub- 
ject picture  of  Dorothy,  one,  which  as  the  Comic  Muse 
was  exhibited  in  1786  in  the  Academy,  being  sternly 
criticized.  This  for  many  years  hung  at  Hampton 
Court,  though  now  it  has  a  place  in  Buckingham 


1 86     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Palace.  He  also  painted  her  as  Hypolita  before  1791, 
and  as  Rosalind  and  Matilda.  The  Rosalind  was 
exhibited  at  the  Academy  in  1796  and  sold  in  1894 
for  1 100  guineas. 

One  of  Gainsborough's  last  pictures  was  a  Portrait 
of  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  George  Morland  also  depicted 
her  in  his  later  days,  probably  in  1800. 

The  sketch  of  her  known  as  "  The  Comic  Muse,  by 
Goles,"  was  made  about  1787,  and  the  portrait  of  her 
as  Sir  Henry  Wildair,  by  W.  A.  Chalmers,  must  have 
been  painted  immediately  after  the  famous  benefit 
night  in  the  spring  of  1788,  for  it  was  engraved  before 
November  of  that  year.1  Thus  between  1785  and  1791 
some  of  the  most  noted  of  Dorothy's  portraits  were 
already  in  existence,  although  some  of  these  were 
erroneously  said  later  to  have  been  painted  for  the 
Duke  of  Clarence. 

In  1792  another  portrait  by  Chalmers  was  published 
as  a  frontispiece  to  a  farce  by  George  Saville  Carey, 
entitled  Dupes  of  Fancy,  or  Every  Man  his  own 
Hobby.  In  this  Dorothy  wears  hat  and  feathers  with 
ribbons  tied  under  her  chin,  a  distinguishing  feature 
of  the  picture  being  a  brooch  with  the  Duke's  portrait. 
Saville  prefaced  his  farce  with  an  adulatory  dedication 
to  Dorothy,  part  of  which  ran  :  "  The  tutelary  sisters 
Melpomene  and  Thalia,  who  preside  over  all  scenic 
acts,  have  taken  you  by  the  hand  and  placed  you  on 
a  pedestal  so  high  that  envy  lowers  her  scowling  front 
whenever  she  casts  her  jaundiced  eye  upon  your 
exalted  station,  for  you  justly  assimilate  the  pathetic 
manners  of  the  one,  and  fascinate  with  the  bewitching 
archness  of  the  other." 

1  "Pictures  of  Mrs.  Jordan,"  by  W.  J.  Lawrence,  in  The  Connoisseur. 


Domesticity  and  Work        187 

Dorothy  thought  it  no  shame  to  wear  the  Duke's 
picture  at  her  breast  at  all  times,  and  a  story  is  told 
that  when  in  September  1792  she  went  to  see  a  young 
actress,  Mrs.  Litchfield,  play  at  Richmond,  she 
clapped  so  heartily  that  her  hands  caught  and  broke  a 
golden  chain  that  held  his  miniature,  which  dropped 
upon  the  stage. 

Dorothy  was,  indeed,  always  ready  to  stand  by  her 
actions.  She  had  consented  to  throw  in  her  lot  with 
the  Duke,  and  she  did  it  with  her  face  to  the  world. 
She  made  no  attempt  at  self-deception  as  did  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert,  and  she  seems  not  to  have  been  troubled 
by  any  qualms  of  conscience.  If  fate  had  decreed  that 
she  should  never  be  legally  wed,  she  would  accept  that 
decree  with  as  gay  a  heart  as  possible.  She  had  done 
little  which  was  outside  the  code  of  morality  of  her 
fellow-workers  at  the  theatre,  many  of  whom,  like  the 
artists  in  the  Quartier  Latin  of  a  later  date,  considered 
that  there  was  nothing  derogatory  or  blameworthy  in 
a  union  unsanctioned  by  the  Church.  Although  The 
Secret  History  of  the  Green  Room  said  that  morally 
her  conduct  was  not  to  be  defended,  it  admitted  that, 
as  a  partner  of  a  man's  life  and  as  a  mother,  it  was 
"  worthy  the  imitation  of  many  ladies  who  had  actually 
entered  into  the  state  of  matrimony,"  for  her  loyalty 
never  swerved. 

To  her  credit  it  must  be  put  that  during  the  twenty 
years  which  she  passed  by  the  side  of  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  but  for  one  or  two  passing  whispers,  scandal 
was  silent  as  to  the  doings  of  that  Prince.  He  settled 
down  as  other  men  who  are  married  settled  down  to 
the  quiet  domestic  life;  he  became  keenly  interested 
in  the  children  who  were  born  to  them,  superintending 
their  lives  and  giving  them  a  father's  affection.  He 


1 88     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

also  held  the  high  hand  over  Dorothy's  work,  so  that 
she  never  accepted  an  engagement' without  his  permis- 
sion, and  when  a  new  play  was  offered  for  her  con- 
sideration he  read  it  first  and  would  taboo  it  if  he 
thought  it  unsuited  to  her. 

Dorothy,  having  taken  this  position,  was  faithful  to 
it  all  through,  so  that  this  union  was  as  clean  and 
commonplace  and  sane  as  any  ordinary  marriage.  She 
turned  an  erratic  and  coarse  youth  into  the  nearest  she 
could  to  a  reputable  family  man,  and  she  did  more 
than  this,  for,  as  her  letters  show,  she  took  a  keen 
interest  in  his  parliamentary  career  and  inspired  the 
best  of  his  efforts.  England  could  have  done  very 
well  without  his  speeches,  but  the  fact  remains  that  he 
was  a  better  man  for  trying  to  work  than  he  would 
have  been  had  he  remained  inert. 

In  1792  the  Duke  began  his  series  of  tirades  against 
the  abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  and  was  regarded 
as  voicing  the  thoughts  of  the  royal  family.  His 
speeches  were  superlative  examples  of  insufficient 
knowledge,  violence  and  vituperation;  but  they  im- 
plied a  mental  effort  and  an  attempt  to  express  his 
conclusions  concerning  things  he  had  seen  in  America 
and  Jamaica.  When  some  years  later,  the  enlightened 
Lords  brought  in  a  bill  to  forbid  any  divorced  person 
marrying  again,  he  added  to  the  discussions  some 
arguments  which  can  only  have  been  the  result  of  a 
thoughtful  woman's  influence. 

He  opposed  the  bill  on  the  grounds  that  it  would 
bear  most  heavily  upon  women,  and  would  give  them 
no  chance  either  of  regaining  respectability  or  even  of 
living  at  all.  At  that  time  if  a  wife  were  found  guilty 
she  was  not  only  divorced  and  disgraced,  but  her  hus- 
band secured  the  whole  of  her  dowry  or  property  in 


Domesticity  and  Work         189 

any  form.  Thus  she  was  turned  out  into  the  world 
homeless  and  penniless,  her  only  chance  being  the 
humanity  of  her  lover.  To  deprive  her  of  that — the 
Duke  argued — was  generally  to  drive  her  to  prostitu- 
tion or  to  suicide. 

So  far  it  was  a  remarkably  enlightened  speech,  but 
it  made  no  effect  upon  the  Lords,  perhaps  because 
this  unmarried  husband  prefaced  and  punctuated  his 
arguments  with  such  sentences  as  :  "If  any  such  there 
should  ever  unfortunately  be,  who,  forgetting  what 
they  owed  to  their  God,  their  country  and  themselves, 
should  be  induced  to  lead  a  profligate  and  immoral 
life,"  etc.,  etc. 

While  anchored  to  Dorothy  Clarence  was,  however, 
fairly  respectable,  and  being  of  no  great  importance, 
he  sank  into  a  comfortable  obscurity,  the  limelight 
being  only  very  occasionally  turned  upon  him ;  after 
the  separation  between  them,  however,  he  again 
became  the  butt  of  the  papers  and  the  caricaturists, 
the  weak  lover  of  women,  the  sordid  hunter  for  money. 

Through  the  spring  and  summer  of  1792  Dorothy 
acted  constantly,  mostly  in  old  characters :  The 
Fugitive,  by  Richardson,  in  April,  being  the  only 
novelty.  Upon  her  playing  Nell  in  The  Country  Girl 
for  her  benefit  The  Bon  Ton  Magazine  sarcastically 
informed  its  readers  that  Mrs.  Jordan  had  so  bad  an 
attack  of  gout  in  the  right  hand  that  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  was  absolutely  obliged  to  take  the  trouble 
of  helping  her  with  her  benefit  tickets.  The  scale  of 
receipts  for  the  various  benefits  this  year  was  as 
follows  :  Bannister  £545,  Jordan  £540,  Siddons  £490, 
Kemble  £480,  and  Crouch  £470,  which  gives  some 
indication  of  relative  popularity.  That  Dorothy's 
benefits  generally  put  her  near  the  top  of  the  list,  did 


190     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

not  make  her  more  loved  by  the  Kembles  or  her  other 
rivals;  and  Kemble  gave  her  little  scope  for  new 
triumphs,  a  matter  which  was  seething  in  Dorothy's 
mind,  to  bear  fruit  in  the  autumn.  Most  writers  on  the 
subject  place  her  absence  from  the  stage  immediately 
after  her  reconciliation  with  the  public.  The  Secret 
History  of  the  Green  Room,  for  instance,  says  that 
the  papers  "  did  all  in  their  power  to  drive  her  from 
the  stage,  on  account  of  her  connection  with  the  Duke 
of  Clarence,  and  now  that  she  does  not  perform  they 
accuse  her  of  ingratitude,  of  refusing  to  amuse  that 
public  which,  a  little  month  ago,  they  pretended  would 
never  suffer  her  again  to  appear  before  them !  Can 
anything  be  more  insulting  to  common  justice,  or  to 
common  sense  ?  "  The  theatre  advertisements  show, 
however,  that  Dorothy  was  constantly  on  the  stage 
until  she  became  ill  at  the  end  of  July,  and  before  this 
happened  her  name  was  dragged  prominently  before 
Society  over  a  small  affair  of  royal  want  of  tact. 

Mrs.  Hobart,  who  lived  at  Richmond,  was  devoted 
to  amateur  theatricals  and  cards,  her  husband  sharing 
the  acting  mania,  so  much  so  that  though  the  heir  to 
his  brother,  the  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire,  he  was  for 
a  time  manager  of  the  Opera  House.  This  Mrs. 
Hobart,  who  was  then  over  fifty  and  so  fat  as  to  be 
dubbed  by  the  gossips  Mrs.  Circumference,  was  noted 
for  her  garden  parties  in  the  country,  her  faro  parties 
in  town,  and  her  theatricals  in  both  places. 

At  all  of  these  the  Princes  were  her  constant  guests, 
and  she  also  knew  Dorothy.  "  The  Hon.  Mrs.  Hobart 
and  Little  Pickle  are  to  visit,  already  they  have  one 
box  in  common  at  the  Haymarket.  The  Romp's 
salary,  indeed,  is  an  object  to  any  of  the  Pharo  tables," 
commented  the  malicious  Bon  Ton  Magazine. 


Domesticity  and  Work        191 

To  a  "rural  breakfast"  at  the  end  of  May  1792 
Mrs.  Hobart  had  invited  the  usual  crowd,  but  the  morn- 
ing brought  a  deluge  of  rain,  and  the  lady  was  in  an 
irritable  frame  of  mind,  when  a  note  from  Petersham 
Lodge  was  delivered.  It  ran — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  presents  her  compliments  to  Mrs. 
Hobart,  and  at  the  request  of  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  begs  leave  to  offer  his  excuses  for 
not  being  able  to  wait  on  her  to-day,  having  a  previous 
engagement,  which  he  forgot  till  this  morning.  Should 
Mrs.  Hobart's  fete  be  put  off  on  account  of  the  badness 
of  the  weather  till  Monday  or  any  other  day,  his  Royal 
Highness  will  be  extremely  happy  to  wait  on  her." 

Mrs.  Hobart  must  have  been  inwardly  delighted 
with  this  delicious  letter,  though  she  would  not  own  to 
it.  The  day  was  bad  and  her  party  spoiled,  but 
heaven  had  sent  her  the  wherewithal  to  amuse  her 
guests,  and  she  made  the  very  most  of  it,  for,  with  vivid 
expressions  of  scorn  and  anger,  she  passed  the  letter 
about.  The  ripples  caused  by  the  incident  quickly 
spread  through  society  to  the  papers ;  "  By  the  rights 
of  man  all  women  are  on  an  equality,  and  vice  mutato 
nomine  is  virtue  "  one  commented.  The  most  piquant 
note  was  given  by  the  acid  pen  of  Walpole.  "  Mrs. 
Hobart,  poor  lady,  she  has  already  miscarried  of  two 
fetes  of  which  she  was  big,  and  yet  next  minute  she 
was  pregnant  of  another.  Those  fausses  couches  and 
Mrs.  Jordan's  epistle  to  her,  and  daily  as  well  as 
nightly  robberies,  have  occasioned  as  much  cackling 
in  this  district  as  if  a  thousand  hen  roosts  had  been 
disturbed  together." 

At  Mrs.  Hobart's  second  party  in  July  there  was  no 


192     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

need  for  Little  Pickle  to  write  another  letter  of  excuse, 
for  "  her  Billy  was  not  invited." 

At  the  end  of  that  month  Dorothy  fell  ill,  and  on 
August  6  she  had  a  serious  miscarriage  of  a  five  months' 
child.  "  It  died  immediately,"  said  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine.  There  is  some  reason  to  suspect  that  this 
was  really  the  birth  of  the  first  child  Sophia,  hidden  for 
fear  of  again  raising  a  storm  of  public  opinion,  as  she 
is  supposed  to  be  the  eldest  Fitzclarence,  and  George 
was  born  in  January  1794.  If  so,  Dorothy's  subse- 
quent absence  from  the  stage  would  be  accounted  for. 
During  this  illness  the  Duke  was  the  most  devoted  of 
men  if  we  may  judge  by  his  letters.  One,  written  to 
Admiral  Sir  Charles  Christian  on  August  10,  will 
sufficiently  show  this — 

'  This  morning  I  received  yours,  and  in  return  am 
to  acknowledge  your  kind  inquiries  after  Mrs.  Jordan. 
The  papers  have  on  this  occasion  told  truth,  for  she 
was  last  week  for  some  hours  in  danger,  but  now,  thank 
God,  she  is  much  better  and  I  hope  in  a  fair  way  of 
perfect  recovery.  It  is  my  present  intention  to  set  out 
on  the  23rd  inst.  for  the  seaside,  in  order  that  Mrs. 
Jordan  may  bathe  for  six  weeks.  As  the  place  we 
mean  to  go  to  is  no  great  distance  from  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  if  you  have  nothing  better  to  do,  I  should 
be  very  happy  to  see  you  there,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  has 
likewise  desired  me  to  say  as  much." 

However,  on  September  26  he  wrote  again  from 
Petersham :  "  I  beg  leave  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  friendly  letter  of  the  2ist  inst.,  and  to  request 
you  will  accept  Mrs.  Jordan's  thanks  as  well  as  my 
own  for  your  very  handsome  offer  of  your  house  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight ;  it  is  still  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  we 


Domesticity  and  Work          193 

shall  go  at  all  to  the  seaside,  the  weather  being  so 
far  advanced;  but  the  Duchess  of  Cleveland  has 
promised  me  a  house  at  Margate,  which  if  I  go  I  mean 


to  use."  1 


All  through  that  autumn  many  tales  were  told  to 
account  for  Dorothy's  absence  from  the  theatre.  It 
was  said  that  she  demanded  the  Siddons's  system,  of 
a  large  payment  for  one  night's  acting  instead  of  a 
weekly  salary,  that  "  the  town  was  not  full  enough  for 
her  ladyship  to  appear,"  that  she  had  deliberately  put 
herself  on  the  shelf.  But  it  may  be  that  she  found 
it  impossible  to  act  in  the  inimical  atmosphere  of  the 
theatre,  for  in  addition  to  the  jealousy  of  her  rivals, 
the  quarrel  with  Kemble  had  again  come  to  a  climax. 
He  steadily  refused  to  put  on  these  new  plays,  in  which 
both  dramatists  and  performers  delight.  As  Boaden 
admiringly  remarked  :  "  Mr.  Kemble  always  did  his 
utmost  to  keep  down  this  rage  for  novelty."  Yet 
history  shows  that  the  theatre's  worst  times  were  when 
the  manager  was  afflicted  by  that  particular  form  of 
economy.  Kemble  himself  was  something  of  a  victim, 
for  he  had  got  to  that  point  when  he  could  secure 
nothing  from  Sheridan  and  felt  cramped  all  ways.  At 
last  he  determined  to  have  it  out  with  his  chief,  taking 
the  opportunity  when  both  were  supping  with  Mrs. 
Crouch.  He  began  operations  by  refusing,  on  enter- 
ing, to  speak  to  R.  B.  S.,  then,  after  seating  himself 
at  table,  he  rose  and  fixing  his  eyes  upon  Sheridan, 
cried — 

"  I  am  an  eagle  whose  wings  have  been  bound  down 
by  frosts  and  snows;  but  now  I  shake  my  pinions,  and 
cleave  into  the  general  air,  unto  which  I  was  born." 

1  Romantic  Annals  of  a  Naval  Family^  by  H.  M.  A.  Traherne. 

N 


194     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Then  he  sat  down,  "  looking  as  if  he  had  relieved 
himself  of  an  intolerable  thraldom."  Sheridan,  know- 
ing his  man,  moved  his  chair  to  Kemble's  side,  and  by 
two  minutes'  smoothing  had  brought  him  back  into 
subjection. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  however,  could  not  so  win  Kemble, 
and  it  was  not  until  she  had  once  more  appealed  to 
Sheridan  that  her  wishes  received  attention.  Her 
letter  to  him  was  as  follows — 

"  SIR, 

"  From  the  very  handsome  manner  in  which 
you  acceded  to  my  proposals,  and,  as  I  conceived, 
concluded  my  engagement,  I  flattered  myself  that  I 
should  have  no  difficulty  to  encounter  in  immediately 
entering  into  my  agreement  with  you — an  event  I  have 
waited  for  with  increased  anxiety,  from  the  circum- 
stance of  having,  through  your  liberality,  been  for 
some  time  in  the  receipt  of  a  very  large  salary,  without 
being  permitted  to  perform. 

"  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  conduct 
of  the  manager,  in  any  other  way  than  his  continued 
disinclination  to  let  me  appear  in  any  new  character 
whatever,  a  complaint  I  have  often  been  constrained 
to  make  to  you,  and  you  have  as  often  acknow- 
ledged the  justice  of  it;  and  in  our  last  negotiation 
endeavoured  effectually  to  remove,  but  without 
success. 

"  As  a  duty  I  owe  myself  and  the  public  I  mean  to 
publish  a  copy  of  this  letter,  to  serve  as  a  simple  but 
fair  contradiction  to  some  malicious  reports  that  are 
circulated,  insinuating  that  /  have  withdrawn  myself 
from  their  protection,  a  circumstance  I  have  every 
reason  to  be  proud  of,  of  which  I  shall  ever  retain  the 


Domesticity  and  Work        195 

most  grateful  remembrance,  accompanied  by  the 
sincerest  regret  at  being  deprived  of  the  happiness  of 
manifesting,  in  the  duties  of  my  profession,  the  truth 
of  this  assertion.  You,  sir,  I  make  no  doubt,  will 
candidly  confess  that  I  have  already  been  too  much 
tormented  with  regard  to  this  engagement,  and  also, 
from  this  unnecessary  delay  in  bringing  forward  the 
comedy,  that  it  is  now  void;  and  when  I  assure  you 
that  my  situation  at  the  theatre  has  for  a  considerable 
time  been  made  very  irksome  to  me,  and  that,  should 
I  attempt  to  continue  in  it  out  of  respect  to  you,  I 
should  subject  myself  to  still  greater  perplexities, 
which  it  is  not  in  your  power  to  prevent;  I  am  there- 
fore confident  that  you  will  release  me  from  that  kind 
of  embarrassment,  which  the  liberality  of  your  conduct 
towards  me,  makes  me  suffer,  in  the  justice  of  my  wish 
to  quit  the  Haymarket  Theatre. 

"  In  complying  with  the  above  request  you  will 
greatly  add  to  the  favours  already  conferred  on, 

"  Sir, 

"  Yours,  etc., 

"  DORA  JORDAN. 

"Somerset  Street, 

"Jan.  29,  1793." 

From  this  letter  it  may  be  inferred  that  Dorothy  had 
entered  into  a  new  and  advantageous  engagement,  in 
which  she  had  made  it  a  condition  that  she  should  be 
allowed  fresh  characters  to  act.  This  condition  had 
become  centred  round  a  play  called  Anna,  which  a  Miss 
Cuthbertson  had  written  especially  for  Dorothy,  and 
which  Dorothy  had  in  her  turn  altered  to  suit  herself. 
Thus  it  is  probably  true  that  she  staked  her  reappear- 
ance on  the  Drury  Lane  stage  upon  the  production  of 
this  play,  and  that  Kemble  held  out  against  it.  However. 


196     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

this  letter  to  Sheridan  settled  the  matter,  for  on 
February  22  Dorothy  was  back  on  the  boards  as 
Laetitia  Hardy,  and  on  the  25th  the  new  play  was  put 
on.  It  probably  was  not  a  good  play,  for  it  most 
certainly  was  not  a  success.  And  to  help  its  fall 
Kemble's  attitude  was  too  strongly  apparent  for  the 
actors  to  do  their  best  in  it,  or  for  the  critics  to  praise. 
It  was  acted  only  once,  and,  as  the  pliant  Boaden 
says,  " both  triumphed."  "  Alas !  poor  Anna" 
mourned  the  more  humorous  Wilkinson,  "  she  dropped 
like  an  unfortunate  young  lady's  pad." 

From  that  date  Dorothy  continued  playing  in  many 
of  her  old  parts,  while  two  new  ones  were  added  to  her 
list :  Lady  Restless  in  All  in  the  Wrong,  and  Clara  in 
The  Female  Duellist.  She  was  not  great  in  Lady 
Restless,  for  she  was  not  really  meant  for  the  fine 
lady,  and  was  more  apt  to  kick  her  train  out  of  her 
way  than  to  move  with  languid  grace.  But  in  all  that 
she  played  the  town  was  delighted  to  see  her  again, 
and  little  as  Kemble  would  have  allowed  it,  prosperity 
shone  more  certainly  over  the  theatre  when  she  was 
actively  in  the  company. 

However,  the  trouble  between  the  two  great  actors, 
though  scotched  was  not  killed,  and  through  the  spring 
it  resolved  itself  into  another,  somewhat  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  other  actors  and  the  public,  for  now  it 
took  the  form  of  a  dispute  over  the  wording  of  the 
play  bills.  It  had  for  long  been  the  custom  to 
advertise,  first  the  men's  parts,  putting  the  most 
important  characters  last  in  such  words  as  "And 
Macbeth,  Mr.  Kemble."  This  was  followed  by  the 
women's  parts  ending,  for  example,  with  "  And  Nell, 
Mrs.  Jordan." 

Kemble,  who  was  something  of  a  solemn  arbiter 


Domesticity  and  Work         197 

upon  trifles,  invented  a  new  bill  which  gave  precedence 
to  conventional  social  status  without  regard  to  the 
importance  of  the  characters  in  the  play.  So  Dorothy, 
who,  since  the  first  month  of  her  London  career,  had 
held  the  post  of  honour  in  print,  now  saw  her  name 
placed  on  a  level  with  the  rank  and  file,  and  she 
rebelled.  Other  actors  did  the  same  thing — Lee 
Lewis  threw  up  his  engagement  with  Stephen  Kemble 
rather  than  submit  to  it;  but  Dorothy,  being  the  most 
renowned  dissenter  from  the  new  custom,  was  made 
the  most  of  as  a  rebel,  and  her  name  was  bandied  about 
in  jokes,  questioning  her  real  importance.  Who  was 
she  ?  And  who  was  her  husband  ?  Why,  her  husband 
had  been  killed  in  the  battle  of  Nubibus,  etc. 

In  the  autumn  of  1793  the  Drury  Lane  company 
was  without  a  home,  for  the  Haymarket  Theatre  was 
needed  for  opera.  Colman  the  younger  made  an 
arrangement  with  Sheridan  to  engage  some  of  his 
actors  for  what  was  then  known  as  the  Little  Theatre, 
but  Mrs.  Siddons,  Dorothy,  Miss  Farren  and  the 
Popes  were  not  of  that  number,  they  being  probably 
beyond  Colman's  means.  This  did  not  trouble 
Dorothy,  for  on  January  23,  1794,  her  first  Clarence 
son  was  born,  receiving  the  name  of  George  Augustus 
Frederick.  Up  to  this  date  her  family  consisted  of 
four  girls;  Frances  Daly,  Hester,  Dorothea  Maria, 
and  Lucy  Ford.  Two  premature  births  had  also  been 
announced,  a  boy  in  1791  and  a  girl  in  1792.  That 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  happy  in  her  enforced  idleness  can 
scarcely  be  doubted,  but  when  the  new  Drury  Lane 
opened  and  its  programme  excluded  her  name  con- 
jecture at  once  arose. 

The  theatre  opened  in  April  1794,  with  an  oratorio 
as  a  benison  on  the  new  building,  and  then  started  to 


198     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

elevate  the  public  mind  by  producing  tragedy  after 
tragedy.  The  degraded  people,  however,  would  have 
preferred  to  laugh,  and  came  in  no  great  numbers  to 
weep,  yet  Kemble  held  on  his  course,  and  when  Mrs. 
Siddons  withdrew  in  the  middle  of  June,  Drury  Lane 
became  moribund.  Kemble  tried  to  temporize,  put- 
ting on  farces  which  pleased  no  one,  says  Boaden, 
though  if  Dorothy  had  only  played  in  them  they  would 
have  brought  money  to  the  theatre.  Once  only  did 
she  act,  and  that  was  on  July  2,  when  she  gave  her 
performance  in  The  Country  Girl  for  the  benefit  o*  the 
widows  and  children  of  those  who  perished  in  Lord 
Howe's  victory  on  "  the  glorious  first  of  June." 

It  was  not  until  November  4,  1794,  that  Dorothy 
again  took  a  part  on  the  Drury  Lane  boards,  and  then 
as  Lady  Content  in  The  Wedding  Day,  written  by 
Mrs.  Inchbald  especially  for  her,  and  of  which  per- 
formance Genest  said  she  "was  the  great  support  of 
it  all."  This  play  gave  her  one  of  the  songs  that 
became  associated  with  her  name,  and  which  she  may 
have  written,  "  In  the  Dead  of  Night,"  a  line  of  which 
ran,  "  Cupid  knocked  at  my  window  disturbing  my 
rest."  This  caught  on  with  the  public,  and  so,  says 
an  anonymous  writer,  in  every  mouth  was  heard  "  like 
the  natural  notes  of  some  sweet  melody  which  drops 
from  it  whether  it  will  or  no,  nothing  but  Cupid ! 
Cupid !  The  whole  city,  like  the  heart  of  one  man, 
opened  itself  to  love." 

The  great  theatrical  event  of  the  autumn  was  the 
presentation  of  Nobody,  a  two  act  comedy  by  Mrs. 
Robinson,  whom  we  know  as  "  Perdita,"  who  had  for 
years  devoted  herself  to  literature.  She  had  had  the 
temerity  to  ridicule  in  this  play  the  outstanding  vice 
of  the  day  among  women,  that  of  gambling^  and  under 


Domesticity  and  Work        199 

the  title  of  the  Lady  Greeks  she  scattered  satire  upon 
those  who  allowed  "  speculators  in  ruin  "  to  open  a 
bank  at  their  evening  parties  and  share  the  profits. 
The  cast  included  Mrs.  Jordan,  Mrs.  Goodall,  Mrs. 
Pope  and  Bannister;  Miss  Farren  should  have  been 
in  it,  but  gave  up  her  part  because  she  said  one  of  her 
most  intimate  friends  was  attacked  in  the  play. 
Another  actress  of  outstanding  fame  —  probably 
Dorothy — was  said  by  Mrs.  Robinson  to  have  received 
a  letter  anouncing  that — 

"Nobody  should  be  damned." 

Mrs.  Robinson  herself  received  threats,  neverthe- 
less the  rehearsals  continued,  and  the  night  of  the 
performance  found  the  players  in  a  more  than  usually 
nervous  state.  As  soon  as  the  curtain  drew  up  some 
men  in  the  gallery,  whose  liveries  betrayed  their  em- 
ployers, declared  they  were  sent  there  to  "  do  up " 
Nobody p,  and  a  scene  of  confusion  ensued,  even  women 
of  distinguished  rank  hissing  through  their  fans.  Ban- 
nister and  Mrs.  Jordan  did  their  utmost  to  procure  a 
fair  hearing,  and  the  more  rational  part  of  the  audience 
were  inclined  to  see  it  through;  but  effort  was  use- 
less, and  after  the  third  stormy  night  the  play  was 
withdrawn. 

Boaden,  who  displays  no  knowledge  of  the  hidden 
machinery  of  this  disturbance,  says  that  Dorothy  was 
very  nervous,  and  hints  that  it  was  caused  by  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Robinson  was  a  writer  as  well  as  an  actress 
and  would  visit  the  failure  upon  anything  rather  than 
the  piece.  Knowing  to  what  a  brutal  length  theatre 
brawls  could  go,  Dorothy  might  well  have  expected 
dreadful  things  to  happen  when  the  curtain  drew  up 
that  night. 

From   then  until    February,  when   Alexander  the 


200     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Great,  a  pantomime  ballet,  was  put  on,  Mrs.  Jordan 
acted  constantly.  After  that  her  next  appearance 
was  in  April,  when,  "with  characteristic  kindness," 
she  played  for  Bannister's  benefit,  he,  like  a  good 
comrade,  performing  for  her  in  May.  During  the 
latter  month  a  play  by  Cumberland  named  First  Love, 
with  "  neither  plot  nor  incident  nor  wit  to  recommend 
it,"  said  Bannister,  enjoyed  a  short  run  because  of  the 
acting  of  Dorothy  and  Miss  Farren.  One  scene 
between  these  two  was  so  affecting  that  the  author 
remarked :  "  When  two  such  exquisite  actresses  con- 
spired to  support  me,  I  will  not  be  so  vain  as  to  pre- 
sume I  could  have  stood  without  their  help."  On 
May  4  Dorothy  took  the  part  for  the  only  time  in  her 
life  of  the  Old  Maid  in  a  play  of  that  name,  and 
thenceforward  continued  her  exertions  until  the  end 
of  the  season.  On  August  19  "  Nell  of  Clarence  plays 
Ophelia  at  Richmond,"  said  Walpole,  writing  to  Miss 
Berry,  and  a  week  later  in  the  same  correspondence 
occurs  :  "  It  was  printed  at  the  bottom  of  the  play-bills 
at  Richmond  last  week  that  Mrs.  Jordan  would  not 
perform,  as  it  was  the  birthday  of  his  R.H.  the  Duke 
of  Clarence — no,  to  be  sure  she  could  not,  for  the 
Prince  of  Orange  1  was  to  dine  with  him,  and  she  did 
the  honours  at  the  head  of  the  table ;  no,  the  Princesses 
were  not  there." 

Dorothy  had  for  July  an  offer  so  splendid  that  she 
might  well  have  been  forgiven  had  she  accepted  it, 
but  it  was  from  Daly,  and  her  hatred  of  him  was  too 
extreme  for  her  to  be  beguiled,  even  though  he  was 
ready  to  give  her  a  hundred  guineas  a  night,  and  to 

1  The  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange  were  living  at  Hampton  Court 
Palace  at  the  time. 


Domesticity  and  Work         201 

deposit  the  total  sum  in  the  bank  for  her  before  she 
left  England.  Hints  as  to  this  crept  into  the  papers 
to  be  asserted,  commented  upon,  and  contradicted. 
"  Surely  there  can  be  no  ground  for  the  general  com- 
plaint of  scarcity  both  of  money  and  all  other  neces- 
sities when  the  public  on  one  hand  can  afford  to  pay, 
and  an  actress  on  the  other  afford  to  decline  a  hundred 
guineas  per  night  for  a  few  hours'  exertion." 

It  would  have  been  worth  as  much  as  Daly  offered 
if  Dorothy  would  have  acted  for  him  again,  for  his 
fortunes  were  on  the  wane.  He  had  suffered  much 
from  the  competition  of  Astley  at  the  Amphitheatre, 
who  encroached  largely  in  his  shows  upon  what  were 
regarded  as  the  sole  rights  of  the  patent  houses,  and 
who,  having  secured  a  patent  in  Dublin  for  a  circus, 
went  on  to  present  musical  farce.  Daly  commenced 
action  after  action  against  him,  and  was  eventually 
ruined,  partly  because  personal  character  entered 
largely  into  the  affair.  He  had  won  a  reputation  so 
atrocious  in  many  ways  that  he  was  generally 
execrated,  while  Astley  was  generous,  respected  and 
known  to  most  people  of  influence  as  a  teacher  of 
riding  and  driving.  Now  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  famous 
Daly's  vile  behaviour  to  her  was  public  property,  and 
rose  ever  in  his  path ;  so  that  he  felt  that  the  one  thing 
to  do  was  to  get  her  to  play  for  him  at  any  cost.  But 
no  lure  was  strong  enough  to  draw  her  there  while  he 
was  in  power,  and  he  had  to  continue  on  his  downward 
road,  being  swept  away  at  last  by  a  society  of  gentle- 
men players,  who,  headed  by  Lord  Henry  Fitzgerald, 
built  a  small  theatre  in  Shaw's  Court  in  opposition 
to  him. 

It  is  said  that  Dorothy  refused  even  to  see  him  or 


2O2     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

to  allow  him  to  see  his  daughter  when,  in  his  visits  to 
London,  he  approached  her.  Nothing  could  ever 
make  her  forget  the  injury  he  had  done  her. 

That  autumn  Dorothy  acted  with  Kemble  in  The 
Plain  Dealer,  one  of  Wycherley's  plays.  It  was  a  very 
rare  thing  indeed  for  these  two  to  act  together,  and 
perhaps  had  Kemble  tried  the  experiment  oftener, 
there  would  have  been  less  friction  between  them, 
for  Boaden,  who  was  very  friendly  with  Kemble,  tells 
how  irresistible  the  latter  found  Dorothy  and  the 
melody  of  her  voice,  adding,  "  He  used  the  language 
of  Yorick  when  he  was  no  jester :  *  It  may  seem 
ridiculous  enough  to  a  torpid  heart — I  could  have 
taken  her  in  -my  arms  and  cherished  her,  though  it  was 
in  the  open  street,  without  blushing.' ' 

There  was  a  family  reason  for  the  rest  Dorothy  took 
in  the  spring  of  this  year,  a  reason  which  The  Bon  Ton 
Magazine  foretold  some  months  before,  announcing : 
"  Mrs.  Jordan  is  shortly  expecting  to  produce  some- 
thing, whether  a  young  Admiral  or  a  Pickle  Duchess 
it  is  impossible  yet  to  tell."  This  prophecy  was  ful- 
filled when,  on  March  27,  1795,  a  boy  appeared,  "to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  his  royal  highness." 

The  author  of  The  Great  Illegitimates  gives  a  story 
of  Dorothy  as  a  truly  domestic  and  unostentatious 
mother,  which  is  somewhat  amusing  and  which  removes 
her  far  from  the  "  fine  "  lady.  He  says  that  "  we  " 
have  often  seen  her  arrival  "  in  a  plain  yellow  chariot 
at  Miss  Tuting's,  a  milliner  in  St  James's  Street, 
where  she  would  alight  with  an  infant  in  her  arms,  and 
during  her  stay  frequently  change  the  linen  of  the 
little  one  in  the  shop,  while  freely  conversing  with  the 
person  in  attendance." 


Domesticity  and  Work        203 

There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  matters  were 
somewhat  strained  between  the  Duke  and  Dorothy  at 
the  end  of  1795,  as  hints  were  given  in  the  papers  con- 
cerning his  flirtations;  Mrs.  J 11  being  one  lady 

who  had  completely  "  brought  to  "  a  celebrated  naval 
commander.  The  Bon  Ton  declared  in  February 
1796  that  a  separation  was  immediately  expected  to 
take  place,  adding,  that  the  benevolence  of  the  lady's 
heart  and  the  generosity  of  her  disposition  had  left 
her  scarcely  any  property  "  but  what  she  derived  from 
the  exercise  of  her  exquisite  talent."  And  the  notice 

ended  with  the  suggestion  that  a  Mrs.  J C 

was  her  successful  rival.  However,  this  little  flame 
seems  to  have  puffed  out  before  it  was  well  alight,  for 
there  is  no  further  evidence  of  its  existence. 

On  December  10,  when  Dorothy  should  have  been 
acting  the  part  of  Julia  in  The  Surrender  of  Calais,  she 
was  suddenly  taken  ill ;  but  she  was  at  work  again 
before  the  month  was  finished.  Nature  was  making 
too  great  a  demand  upon  her;  had  she  been  able  to 
take  life  easily  and  to  do  no  fatiguing  work  things 
might  have  gone  well;  as  it  was,  she  had  further 
attacks  of  illness,  and  in  February  1796  suffered  from 
another  miscarriage.  A  third  letter  from  the  Duke 
to  Admiral  Christian,  written  from  Clarence  Lodge, 
which  he  still  kept  up,  refers  to  this  illness :  "  Dear 
Christian,  I  have  hitherto  been  prevented  answering 
you  by  attending  Mrs.  Jordan,  who  has  been  very  ill 
indeed."  What  a  picture  of  domesticity  these  two 
lines  raise ! 


CHAPTER   XII 

FROM    PETERSHAM    TO    BUSHY    PARK 

"And  she  is  Nature's  own.     I  found  her  such, 
Nor  marred  the  copy  by  a  single  touch  ; 
The  finished  work  such  high  perfection  bore, 
Art  could  add  nothing ;  Nature  give  no  more." 

The  Comic  Muse,  on  Mrs.  Jordan. 

IF  the  thoughts  of  the  Duke  were  wandering  to  other 
fair  ladies  at  the  end  of  1795,  usage  had  made  certain 
habits  so  strong  that  they  could  not  be  broken  through. 
Dorothy  would  drive  down  to  St.  James's  to  breakfast 
with  Clarence  (she  generally  did  so,  says  The  Fashion- 
able Cypriad),  perhaps  entering  through  that  side  door 
which  he  had  been  so  thoughtful  as  to  have  made  as 
soon  as  the  rooms  were  allotted  to  him,  though  there 
could  be  nothing  surreptitious  in  her  visits,  as  her 
carriage  would  be  there  for  all  to  see. 

It  was  in  this  dining-room  that,  on  November  17, 
1795,  he  and  she  awaited  the  appearance  of  Samuel 
Ireland,  who  himself  believed,  and  for  a  time  made 
half  the  London  world  believe,  that  his  son,  William 
Henry,  then  a  lad  of  eighteen,  had  discovered  a 
number  of  Shakespeare  documents  in  an  old  trunk. 
Through  that  year  all  the  learned  men  were  engaged 
in  a  dispute  over  these  plays  and  deeds,  but  so  strong 
and  influential  was  the  party  which  looked  upon  the 
parchments  as  genuine  that  Sheridan  accepted  the 
tragedy  of  Vortigern  and  Rowena  by  William  Shake- 
speare— but  in  reality  by  William  Henry  Ireland — for 
production  at  Drury  Lane. 

204 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    205 

The  play  being  accepted,  there  arose  the  question 
of  actors,  and  it  was  probably  this  which  roused 
Dorothy  and  the  Duke  to  keen  interest.  Neither 
could  be  regarded  as  a  judge  of  ancient  literature,  but 
the  fact  that  many  literary  people — Boswell,  uttering 
a  Nunc  Dimittis,  had  gone  on  his  knees  to  kiss  the 
manuscript — had  signed  a  paper  testifying  to  their 
belief  in  its  authenticity  was  enough,  naturally,  to  give 
them  a  bias.  So  they  determined  to  see  the  play  for 
themselves,  and  appointed  a  time  for  the  Irelands  to 
bring  it  to  the  palace.  In  his  Confessions  published 
in  1805  young  Ireland  declared  that  the  Prince  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  most  carefully  examined  all  the  docu- 
ments shown  them,  and  asked  many  questions,  which 
seem  to  have  been  asked  by  most  people,  for  he  goes 
on  to  say  that  he  gave  the  usual  answers.  The  Prince, 
he  adds,  made  numerous  objections,  particularly  to  the 
redundancy  of  letters  in  the  spelling  apparent  through- 
out the  papers ;  but  whatever  doubts  Clarence  had  were 
set  at  rest,  for  Dorothy  was  duly  cast  for  a  part  in 
Vortigern. 

Kemble  at  first  believed  in  the  play,  then  doubted, 
and  delayed  its  appearance  until  he  was  by  pressure 
obliged  to  produce  it,  and,  being  obliged,  he  calmly 
set  apart  April  i,  1796,  for  its  production.  To  this 
Ireland  naturally  objected,  whereupon  the  2nd  of  the 
month  was  appointed,  Kemble  securing  his  gibe  by 
following  it  with  a  farce  entitled  My  Grandmother. 

Dorothy  acted  her  part  of  Flavia  with  "  exquisite 
simplicity,"  says  Boaden.  She  had  accepted  the  char- 
acter, and  therefore  felt  it  incumbent  upon  her  to  make 
the  most  of  it.  Not  so  other  actors ;  Mrs.  Siddons  and 
Mrs.  Palmer  resigned  their  parts  on  the  plea  of  ill- 


206     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

health,  and  some  of  the  men,  knowing  that  Kemble 
was  performing  against  his  will,  acted  up  to  the 
manager's  opinion  rather  than  to  the  possibilities  of 
the  play. 

The  audience  had  heard  all  sides,  and  knew 
Kemble's  standpoint;  it  was,  therefore,  frankly  and 
good-humouredly  critical,  and  roared  with  laughter 
when  the  actor  announced — 

"And  when  thy  solemn  mockery  is  o'er, 
With  icy  hand  thou  takst  him  by  the  feet 
And  upwards  so,  till  thou  dost  reach  the  heart, 
And  wrap  him  in  the  cloak  of  lasting  night." 

The  play  being  announced  for  reappearance,  an 
outburst  of  howls  condemned  the  proposal. 

Ireland  declared  later  that  he  had  written  every  part 
in  the  play  for  a  particular  actor,  and  that  he  had  pur- 
posely assigned  to  Mtrs.  Jordan  a  Character  which 
needed  small-clothes,  and  had  introduced  a  song  in 
which  she  might  touch  the  audience  with  her  pathetic 
rendering.  He  and  his  father  were  ruined,  £102  13$.  3^. 
being  their  share  of  the  night's  receipts;  and  that  was 
all  they  got  according  to  the  writer  in  The  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography,  though  Boaden  affirms  that 
£300  had  previously  been  paid  them.  Samuel  Ireland 
had  believed  implicitly  in  all  that  his  son  had  told  him, 
but  every  one  treated  him  as  guilty,  and  he  died  four 
years  later,  asserting  that  "  he  was  totally  ignorant  of 
the  deceit."  Young  Ireland  fled  from  his  father's 
house,  and  for  years  became  more  or  less  of  an  outcast. 
In  the  book  he  published  later  he  paid  strong  tribute 
to  Dorothy's  particular  kindness  and  affability  when 
he  went  to  see  her  and  in  the  Green  Room  where  he 
remained  through  the  night  of  the  representation, 
"  when  not  only  her  transcendent  abilities  as  an  actress 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    207 

were  exerted  in  my  behalf  before  the  curtain,  but 
reanimating  expressions  while  in  the  Green  Room  con- 
tinually flowed  from  her  lips,  in  order  to  rouse  me  from 
the  mental  depression  under  which  I  so  obviously 
laboured." 

Kemble  did  not  grieve  over  the  failure  of  this  play, 
and  his  attitude  proved  him  a  man  before  he  was  an 
actor,  being  better  pleased  to  say  "  I  told  you  so  "  than 
to  try  for  success.  The  management  were  inclined  to 
blame  his  acting  for  the  extent  of  the  fiasco,  and  there 
was  a  general  sense  of  friction,  ready  to  blaze  forth  on 
the  least  occasion.  The  occasion  was  not  long  in 
coming,  for  Dorothy  chose  Hamlet  for  her  benefit 
night.  Why  she  did  this  it  is  impossible  to  say,  as 
Kemble  had  already  advertised  it  for  his  own  benefit. 
It  may  have  been  pure  cussedness  in  retaliation  for  his 
acting  in  Vortigern,  or  she  may  have  wished  to  try 
conclusions  with  him;  in  any  case  her  choice  led  to 
high  and  violent  disputes,  and  the  matter  was  at  last 
offered  to  the  arbitration  of  Sheridan,  who  gave  the 
wise  judgment  that  neither  should  take  Hamlet  as  a 
benefit  play,  which  so  annoyed  Kemble  that  he 
threatened  to  resign.  Boaden  carefully  gives  no  hint 
of  this  affair  either  in  his  Life  of  Kemble  or  that  of 
Mrs.  Jordan.  Kemble's  annoyance  was  loudly  uttered 
and  widely  criticized,  one  letter  among  the  many  which 
appeared  in  the  press  containing  the  following 
paragraphs — 

"  Kemble  can  never  stand  in  the  first  rank  of  favour- 
ites till  he  evinces  greater  abilities  and  less  self- 
conceit.  Before  that  period  arrives  he  will  constantly 
meet  with  mortifications  whenever  he  contends  with 
a  performer  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  merits,  who  is  singularly 


2o8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

capable  of  supporting  the  interests  of  the  theatre,  as 
he  has  himself  most  injudiciously  proved  by  placing 
her  perpetually  in  situations  where  all  around  her  were 
drawbacks  instead  of  assistants.  If  any  dispute 
between  actors  be  brought  before  the  public,  their 
motto  must,  of  course,  be  Spectemur  agenda — Let  our 
performances  be  the  test — and  upon  this  ground  the 
question  has  long  been  completely  divided  between 
the  contending  parties.  ...  I  cannot  quit  this  subject 
without  remarking  that  I  have  scarcely  ever  observed 
a  more  glaring  instance  of  clumsy  misrepresentation 
than  in  the  statement  made  of  the  loss  likely  to  be 
sustained  by  the  lovers  of  the  drama  in  consequence, 
forsooth,  of  this  fracas.  A  long  list  of  performers  is 
pompously  held  forth  as  following  Mr.  Kemble  upon 
this  his  threatened  secession;  whereas,  most  unfor- 
tunately, not  only  all  those  who  frequent  the  theatre, 
but  all  who  cast  their  eye  upon  a  newspaper,  have 
repeatedly  been  informed  that  every  individual  of  that 
list  has,  for  some  time  past,  resolved  upon  quitting  the 
stage  at  the  conclusion  of  the  present  season,  and  that, 
too,  before  Hamlet  (which,  it  seems,  was  the  bone  of 
contention)  was  even  put  into  rehearsal. 

"Miso  PUFF." 

Dorothy  chose  the  part  of  Juliet  for  her  benefit  on 
April  25,  to  which  character  she  scarcely  did  justice; 
for,  as  with  Imogen,  she  did  not  possess  the  right 
qualities  to  interpret  it  well.  The  benefit  system  must 
have  been  somewhat  of  a  charge  upon  a  noted  and 
good-humoured  performer,  who  was  far  more  likely  to 
be  solicited  to  play  than  one  of  more  austere  mood, 
such  as  Mrs.  Siddons.  There  was  ever  some  reason 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    209 

for  Dorothy  to  give  her  work  with  only  sweet  words 
for  payment,  and  if  she  now  and  then  repented  and  let 
another  slip  into  her  place,  her  taskmaster,  the  public, 
was  always  ready  with  flagellation. 

Thus,  in  this  year  of  1 796,  after  her  own  benefit,  she 
had  to  repay  the  favours  received  in  a  way  that  no  less 
popular  person  would  have  been  required  to  do.  At 
Mrs.  Pope's  benefit,  May  5,  she  played  Lucy  in  The 
Virgin  Unmasked;  for  Barrymore,  on  the  2oth,  she 
took  Juliet  for  the  third  time;  for  Bannister  the  next 
night  she  was  Nell  in  The  Devil  to  Pay;  then  came  a 
charity  performance  at  Covent  Garden,  and  another  at 
Drury  Lane,  on  June  9,  for  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  Benson,  who  had  acted  with  her  in  Vortigern. 
Benson  had  thrown  himself  down  from  the  top  of  his 
house  in  a  delirium,  which  was  caused,  it  was  reported, 
by  the  fact  that  the  scornful  shouts  of  the  audience 
over  that  play  rang  constantly  in  his  ears. 

For  some  reason  Dorothy  resigned  her  part  at  the 
Covent  Garden  benefit  and  drew  the  usual  public 
rebukes.  "  How  is  it  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  absent  on 
an  occasion  of  charity?  "  "  If  Mrs.  Jordan  refused  to 
play  she  was  wrong  !  "  "  There  is  too  much  fuss  over 
the  little  Sultana,"  etc.  Truly  the  public  was  a  hard 
taskmaster. 

For  the  last  time  she  took  the  part  of  Priscilla  Tom- 
boy in  The  Romp  on  May  6  of  this  year,  for  she  was 
now  nearly  thirty-five,  and  began  to  feel  disinclined 
for  the  breeches  parts  in  which  she  was  so  popular. 

Kemble's  position  had  not  improved  as  a  manager. 

Not  only  the  performers  but  the  weekly  workmen  were 

often  unpaid;  duns  were  always  about  the  doors,  and 

almost   nightly   he   received   notes,    such    as    "  Mrs. 

o 


2io     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

So-and-So  will  not  go  on  the  stage  to-night  unless  all 
arrears  are  remitted  " ;  or  "  Messrs.  This-and-That  will 
not  supply  the  stage  furniture  unless  the  previous  bill 
is  paid."  To  one  who  was  straightforward  and  scrupu- 
lous in  his  dealings  this  was  a  refinement  of  torture, 
which  culminated  when  he  was  actually  arrested  for 
some  theatrical  debt.  He  paid  the  money  and  resigned 
his  post.  This  resignation  has  been  attributed  by 
some  biographers  to  the  quarrel  over  Hamlet  with 
Dorothy,  but  his  relation  with  her  formed  but  one  of 
a  long  list  of  grievances  which  made  things  unen- 
durable. 

Dorothy,  it  is  said,  nearly  always  got  her  money, 
for  she  had  "a  very  powerful  friend  who  would  not 
allow  her  to  be  trifled  with,"  especially  on  such  an 
important  matter  as  money,  might  have  been  added. 
Boaden  said  that  this  "  friend  "  had  secured  a  "  steady 
aversion  which,  in  a  certain  quarter  [Kemble],  was 
always  manifested  at  the  very  sound  of  his  name." 
However,  if  in  London  she  had  to  be  always  on  the 
defensive,  in  little  Richmond  she  queened  it  over 
every  one.  She  played  what  she  liked,  and  occasion- 
ally indulged  herself  in  those  sentimental  parts  which 
were  not  so  popular  in  town,  drawing  from  one  critic 
the  remark  that  he  would  hint  to  her  that  she  could 
not  be  Mrs.  Siddons,  Miss  Farren  and  Mrs.  Jordan 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  When  she  played  there 
in  September  the  ever-ready  reformer  rebuked  her  in 
The  Monthly  Mirror — 

"  There  is  a  custom  at  this  theatre  which  cannot  be 
too  much  reprobated,  and  which  is  that  of  assigning  the 
whole  of  the  Green  Room  to  Mrs.  Jordan  during  her 
engagement,  for  the  purpose  of  dressing ;  so  that  while 
one  actress  is  occupying  a  large  apartment,  which 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park     2 1 1 

ought  to  be  devoted  to  general  use,  twenty  or  thirty 
performers  are  under  the  necessity  of  standing  by  the 
sides  and  back  scenes  for  several  hours  together  among 
lamp-lighters  and  scene-shifters,  because  Mrs.  Jordan 
is  too  great  to  intermingle  with  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pany." In  this  case  sympathy  must  be  with  the  other 
performers,  though  they  had,  as  alternative  to  the 
sides,  various  dressing-rooms  in  which  to  wait. 

Dorothy's  desire  to  play  sentimental  parts  was 
further  gratified  when  Miss  Farren  left  the  stage, 
which  she  did  in  the  midst  of  an  uproar  in  1797.  One 
night  the  audience  was  kept  waiting  three  hours  for 
her  to  appear,  and  were  then  told  that  she  was  too  ill — 
the  management  having  spent  its  time  in  futile  per- 
suasions. It  owed  her  a  tremendous  sum,  and  nothing 
but  an  unattainable  golden  salve  would  have  cured 
her  illness.  Having  presumably  made  her  terms,  she 
appeared  again  four  nights  later,  to  meet  a  house  which 
was  gathered  for  the  sole  purpose  of  hissing  and  raging 
at  her,  and  she  left  the  theatre  rather  than  apologize 
for  a  fault  which  she  considered  not  to  be  hers.  This 
was  the  easier  in  that  she  no  longer  needed  the  favour 
of  the  public,  for  the  Countess  of  Derby  died  on 
March  14,  and  on  May  i  Miss  Farren  married  the 
delighted  Earl,  who  had  long  paid  his  suit  to  her. 
With  the  loss  of  Miss  Farren  and  the  Kembles,  and 
with  Wroughton  as  manager,  Dorothy  was  practically 
supreme  at  Drury  Lane. 

In  1797  the  Duke  of  Clarence  made  a  change  of 
residence,  and  one  which  was  decidedly  for  the  better. 
Petersham  Lodge  was  not  a  large  house,  though  it  was 
built  on  a  stately  plan  round  three  sides  of  a  grassy 
court  on  the  edge  of  Richmond  Park.  This,  probably 
wanting  money,  he  had  sold  in  1794,  though  he  still 


212     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

continued  to  live  there.1  But  when  old  Lady  North 
died  in  the  early  part  of  1797,  Clarence  was  made 
Ranger  of  Bushy  Park  in  her  stead,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  his  position  as  Chief  Steward  of  the 
Honour  of  Hampton.  Thus  Bushy  House  became 
his  residence. 

Bushy  House,  surrounded  by  lovely  gardens  and 
inset  in  the  park  of  that  name,  was  built  in  the  reign 
of  William  III,  of  red  brick  and  was  somewhat 
curious  in  form;  for  on  either  side  of  the  great  square 
of  the  main  building  are  lower  wings,  possessing 
rounded  ends  and  extending  both  ways,  forming  the 
whole  as  the  letter  H.  In  the  end  of  one  wing  looking 
west  was  the  ballroom,  its  companion  wing  on  the 
same  side  holding  the  chapel,  for  William  of  Clarence 
was  devout  in  the  blind  fashion  which  considered  that 
religion  had  little  to  do  with  ethics,  and  he  appointed 
several  chaplains  for  his  service.  The  drawing-room 
— its  moulded  ceiling  upheld  by  pillars — and  the  other 
sitting-rooms  in  which  Dorothy  lived  for  fourteen 
years,  are  now  filled  with  the  delicate  machinery  of  the 
National  Physical  Laboratory,  in  connection  with  which 
many  buildings  have  risen  in  one  corner  of  the  garden ; 
yet  the  house  itself  has  suffered  little  change,  and  much 
of  the  garden  remains  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago, 
still  containing  the  temple,  or  pillared  summer-house 
which  was  erected  in  honour  of  Lord  Nelson. 

For  Dorothy  this  sylvan  spot  must  have  been  a  great 
contrast  to  her  Drury  Lane  existence,  and  she  soon 
grew  to  love  it.  Here  most  of  her  children  were  born, 
and  here  they  grew  up  and  dwelt  long  after  she  had 
gone  out  of  their  lives.  In  1798  the  number  of  her 

1  Petersham  Lodge  was  pulled  down  in  1834  and  the  grounds  included 
in  the  park.    The  present  Petersham  Lodge  is  the  third  of  that  name. 


From  Petersham  to   Bushy   Park    213 

children  were  seven,  three  of  them  Fitzclarences. 
About  the  date  of  the  birth  of  the  first  Fitzclarence 
girl,  Sophia,  there  is,  as  has  already  been  said,  some 
doubt;  it  may  have  been  in  1797,  but  if  so,  she  " came 
out "  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  member  of  the  family  asserts  that  Sophia  was  the 
eldest  Fitzclarence  child,  in  which  case  she  must  have 
been  born  in  1792,  when  Dorothy  was  said  to  have 
suffered  such  a  serious  miscarriage,  and  the  birth  must 
have  been  concealed  from  the  public  because  of 
the  recent  sensation  concerning  the  Clarence-Jordan 
alliance.  The  way  in  which  this  event  was  announced 
in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine — "  a  five  months'  child, 
which  died  immediately  " — almost  raises  suspicion  that 
this  was  so.  But  nineteen  was  considered  at  that  date 
as  very  late  for  presentation  in  Society.  However, 
succeeding  years  were  apportioned  to  births  or  mis- 
carriages, January  1794  and  March  1795  to  the  former, 
and  March  1793  to  the  latter. 

With  her  generous  nature,  Dorothy  made  warm 
friends  both  among  her  dependents  and  outside  her 
home;  nothing  testifies  so  much  to  this  as  the  letters 
which  she  wrote  at  this  time,  many  of  which  are  still  in 
existence.  They  were  often  undated,  but  from  internal 
evidence  and  the  watermarks  it  has,  however,  been  easy 
to  assign  them  to  their  right  period.  The  following, 
perhaps  to  Miss  Turner,  was  written  soon  after  the 
settling  in  Bushy  House  in  1797,  and  betrays  in- 
teresting facts  about  the  family. 

"July  9th,  Bushy  House. 

"  I  will  not,  my  dear  friend,  set  about  accounting  for 
my  apparent  neglect  of  you — your  own  kind  heart  will 
find  excuse  for  me,  and  will,  I  am  sure,  do  me  the 


214     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

justice  to  feel  it  did  not  arise  from  any  want  of  affec- 
tion— ungrateful  indeed  must  I  be  to  forget  all  your 
kind  affections — believe  me,  I  miss  them  on  all  occa- 
sions.    I  am  now  settled  here  for  some  time — but  not 
paid.      Fanny  [Frances  Daly,  then  fifteen  years  of 
age]  has  taken  up  her  residence  at  Elliott's,  Dora  and 
Lucy   I   have  got  comfortably  lodged  and  boarded 
within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  me — my  sister  is  with  me. 
I  had  come  to  the  resolution  of  parting  with  her,  but 
she  shew'd  so  much  contrition  and  sorrow  at  the  idea 
that  I  shall  try  her  once  again;  the  dear  little  ones 
are  all  quite  well,  but,  unfortunately,  the  smallpox 
surrounds  us.     God  preserve  them.     I  am  sure  that 
you  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  the  Duke  gain'd  a  great 
triumph  in  the  House  of  Lords.     Mrs.  Lloyd  was  very 
anxious  to  have  the  use  of  my  house  again  [probably 
in  Somerset  Street],  but  I  positively  refus'd  her.     I 
expect  Mrs.  Sinclair,  however,  in  a  day  or  two.     I  saw 
her  last  Friday,  when  she  requested  me  to  remember 
her  affectionately  to  you ;  so  write,  and  do  not  treat  me 
as  I  deserve.     God  bless  you,  my  dear  girl,  and  tell  me 
when  it  is  likely  that  I  shall  see  you;  you  will  not 
surely  return  without  letting  me  hear  from  you.     I  am 
in  your  debt,  but  that  I  can  pay ;  but  how  shall  I  make 
a  return  for  all  your  goodness  and  the  many  happy 
moments  you  have  afforded  me — let  me  see  you  again, 
and  I  think  I  shall  prove  better  how  to  value  you. 
Once  More  God  Bless  You. 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately  and  sincerely, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

The  name  of  the  unsatisfactory  sister  not  being 
given,  it  is  not  possible  to  say  whether  this  was  Hester 
or  the  younger  one ;  the  Mrs.  Lloyd  mentioned  was  the 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park     215 

wife  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lloyd  of  Ewell,  chaplain  to  the 
Duke,  who  would  come  over,  bringing  his  surplice  with 
him,  when  he  thought  it  right  to  conduct  a  service  in 
the  ducal  establishment.  A  little  later,  for  a  con- 
sideration of  £400  a  year,  paid  by  Dorothy,  he 
undertook  to  board,  lodge  and  teach  Dorothy's  eldest 
children,  as  well  as  the  young  sister.  As  Hester  was 
thirty-nine  at  the  time,  no  stretch  of  imagination  could 
turn  her  into  a  young  thing  needing  education,  and  it 
may  even  be  doubted  whether  this  girl  was  a  sister  at 
all,  for  the  youngest  sister  Dorothy  could  have  had 
would  have  been  twenty-five.  May  she  not  have  been 
the  elusive  Hester,  who  exists  rather  by  hints  than 
facts — Dorothy's  own  child  by  an  untraced  man 
named  Bettesworth,  born  before  the  Ford  connection? 
It  is  noteworthy  that  at  this  time  Dorothy  was  short 
of  money  and  "  had  not  been  paid  " — by  whom  ?  the 
theatrical  people  or  the  Duke  ?  There  is  also  another 
point  in  this  letter  which  is  quite  remarkable.  She 
mentions  a  Mrs.  Sinclair  as  being  expected  on  a  visit 
to  Bushy  House.  Now  this  lady,  the  wife  of  Robert 
Sinclair,  Laird  of  Fiswick,  was  Dorothy's  aunt,  her 
father's  own  sister,  and  daughter  of  the  stern  Judge 
Bland.  Thus  it  is  proved  that  she  was  accepted 
socially  by  another  legitimate  member  of  the  Bland 
family,  in  addition  to  John  Bland  of  Edinburgh 
and  Nathaniel  Bland,  her  father's  brother  in  London. 
Mrs.  Sinclair  was  a  lady  of  social  importance,  and  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  wrote  to  her  concerning  one  of  her 
visits  to  Bushy  as  follows  l — 


1  To  General  Thomas  Bland  Strange,  R.A.,  a  descendant  of  Mrs. 
Sinclair's  sister,  Lucy  Bland  (Mrs.  Orpen),  I  am  indebted  for  kind 
permission  to  reproduce  this  letter. 


216     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

"Bushy,  Monday  night. 

"  DEAR  MADAM, 

'  This  evening  I  received  the  enclosed  letter 
from  Lord  Harcourt,  by  which  you  will  perceive  at 
length  it  is  settled  that  Strange  is  to  be  considered 
as  entitled  free  of  all  expense.1  Keep  the  letter  to 
prevent  future  disputes. 

'  The  country  is  beautiful,  and  as  Mrs.  Jordan's 
carriage  returns  from  London  on  Thursday,  you  will 
perhaps  come  in  it,  and  enjoy  the  fresh  eggs,  butter 
and  cream.  Remember  we  dine  at  five,  and  ever 
believe  me, 

:<  Yours  sincerely, 

"WILLIAM." 

Another  letter  of  Dorothy's,  written  two  years  later 
to  Miss  Turner,  who  had  probably  held  the  position 
of  governess  in  the  family,  may  be  reproduced  here,  as 
it  deals  with  domestic  events,  and  again  shows  the 
pressing  want  of  money. 

"  Why  will  you,  my  dear  girl,  make  yourself  uneasy 
about  me.  Believe,  I  am  very  well;  however,  I 
think  a  little  bark  may  strengthen  me.  I  am  sincerely 
sorry  that  you  are  going  to  leave  us,  but  won't  blame 
your  friends  for  their  anxiety  to  see  you.  Let  me 
know  when  we  may  expect  to  see  you  again.  Let  me 
request  you  will  not  stay  long  away;  believe  me,  you 
have  not,  among  the  people  who  love — and  who  must 
love — you,  one  who  more  truly  values  your  friendship 
than  I  do.  My  poor  little  girls  will  miss  your  society 
greatly.  You  give  me  great  pleasure  in  saying  that 

1  An  allusion  to  the  fact  that  her  nephew,  Alexander  Strange,  grand- 
son of  Judge  Bland,  was  made  a  Knight  of  Windsor  for  distinguished 
military  services. 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park     217 

you  think  Mrs.  Betty  will  answer;  God  grant  she 
may.  And  now,  my  dear  girl,  the  money  I  owe 
you  is  among  the  least  of  the  kindnesses  I  have 
received  from  you,  and  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  many 
I  can  make  a  return  for.  Let  me  know  how  much  it 
is,  and  I  will  so  far  gratify  your  good  heart  as  to  let 
you  have  it  as  I  can  spare  it.  The  dear  little  ones  are 
all  well.  God  bless  you,  and  may  you  be  as  happy 
as  you  deserve  and  as  I  shall  now  wish  you, 

'  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  DORA  JORDAN. 

"  The  Duke  desires  to  be  remembered  affectionately 
to  you." 

To  this  may  be  added  a  third  letter,  written  in  1800, 
and  probably  also  to  Miss  Turner.  In  this  Dorothy 
mentions  buying  a  house,  but  which  house  this  was  it 
has  not  been  possible  to  trace. 

"...  Your  kind  remembrances,  my  dear  friend, 
and  gentle  rebukes  sensibly  affect  me ;  believe  me,  no 
length  of  time  or  space  can  ever  lessen  the  love  I  have 
for  you.  You  know  my  dislike  to  writing,  which  has 
been  greatly  strengthened  by  seldom  having  anything 
pleasant  to  communicate.  I  hate  talking  of  myself. 
I  hear  of  you,  tho'  not  from  you,  which  I  own  I  have 
no  right  to  complain  of ;  do  not,  I  entreat  you,  punish 
me  too  severely  by  not  keeping  your  promise  of  coming 
to  us.  The  house  will  be  ready  to  receive  you  the  end 
of  September ;  I  should  be  afraid  of  your  going  into  [it] 
before.  Can  your  dear  and  good  friends  part  with 
you  ?  I  admit  their  superior  claims  to  your  company. 
...  I  trust  the  girls  will  be  comfortably  settled. 
Mrs.  Elliot  has  got  them  a  very  superior  governess, 


218     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

who  will,  I  hope,  make  the  house  very  agreeable  to 
you  all.  I  shall  be  with  you  some  part  of  every  day — 
too  vain  I  am  to  hold  this  out  to  you  as  an  inducement 
to  fulfil  your  promise.  George  sends  his  love  to  dear 
Dott ;  so  far  from  having  forgot  you,  believe  me,  you  are 
a  very  constant  theme.  I  am  sure  you  will  be  glad  to 
hear  that  dear  Mrs.  Elliot  has  got  a  little  girl.  The 
dear  children  are  all  in  high  health,  and  really  I  think 
Frederick  the  finest  and  handsomest  boy  I  ever  saw, 
but  he  has  not  a  tooth  yet,  which  makes  me  rather 
uneasy.  I  have  been  playing  .  .  .  and  fagging  myself 
to  death,  but  it  has  enabled  me  to  pay  a  good  part  of 
the  purchase  money  of  my  house.  The  dear  good 
Duke  desires  me  to  say  that  he  shall  be  the  first  to 
welcome  you.  God  bless  you,  dear.  I  rejoice  to  hear 
that  your  health  is  so  much  improved;  may  you  enjoy 
that  and  every  other  blessing  is  the  sincere  prayer  of 
your  affectionate  friend, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

It  was  about  the  year  1797  that  Dorothy  exerted 
herself  to  gain  the  friendship  of  a  man  who  might  be 
useful  to  her.  She  was  so  often  vilified  by  the  press 
that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  she  looked  round 
for  a  friend  in  its  ranks  who  would  now  and  then  do 
her  a  good  turn.  She  had  seen  James  Boaden  in  the 
company  of  Kemble  and  Sheridan,  and  as  he  was  the 
editor  of  The  Oracle,  also  a  playwright  and  a  critic, 
she  secured  an  introduction  to  him  (or,  as  he  himself 
says,  introduced  herself  to  him),  and  afterwards  occa- 
sionally wrote  to  ask  his  advice  upon  some  theatrical 
matter. 

Boaden  dearly  loved  high  rank,  and  the  favour  of 
a  prince  was  sufficient  to  give  him  exquisite  happiness, 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    219 

so  thenceforth  all  things  that  Dorothy  asked  of  him 
were  granted,  in  so  far  as  was  possible.  He  may  have 
known  more  of  the  joint  life  at  Bushy  Park  than  he 
revealed ;  indeed  he  must  have  known  more,  for  things 
which  were  not  included  in  his  book  were  often  public 
property  at  the  time  of  their  happening,  and  when  he 
was  in  Dorothy's  confidence.  In  writing  his  Life 
of  her,  too,  he  started  by  making  great  promises  of 
settling  all  mysteries,  yet  he  ended — having  probably 
been  cajoled  by  William  IV — by  telling  nothing,  his 
chief  new  contribution  being  a  number  of  letters  written 
to  him  by  Mrs.  Jordan.  As  The  Dramatic  Magazine 
said  of  his  book,  "  it  might  with  equal  propriety  have 
been  termed  a  History  of  England  or  a  Life  of  George 
III,"  so  diffuse  was  he. 

He  does,  however,  give  some  interesting  pictures  of 
Dorothy,  such  as  the  following,  which  belongs  to  1798. 
She  had  sent  for  him  to  Somerset  Street  to  talk  over  a 
new  play — The  Secret — by  Morris,  which  was  filled 
with  improper  situations,  such  being,  as  Dorothy 
pointed  out,  "quite  usual  on  the  stage,  whatever  the 
world  might  think  of  it."  His  advice  was  against  it, 
and  she  told  him  that  the  Duke,  who  had  read  it,  had 
uttered  the  same  verdict.  Boaden  adds — 

"  She  was  in  charming  spirits,  and  occasionally  ran 
over  the  strings  of  her  guitar.  Her  young  family 
were  playing  about  us,  and  the  present  Colonel  George 
Fitzclarence,  then  a  child  between  four  and  five  years 
old,  amused  me  much  with  his  spirit  and  strength;  he 
attacked  me  as,  his  mother  told  me,  his  fine-tempered 
father  was  accustomed  to  permit  him  to  do.  He  cer- 
tainly was  an  infant  Hercules."  From  this  it  may  be 
gathered  that  Dorothy  sometimes  took  her  children  to 
town  with  her  when  making  a  stay  there. 


There  was  one  event  which  happened  just  now  which 
caused  Dorothy  much  pain ;  a  small  thing,  but  remem- 
bered to  the  end  of  her  life.  Charles  Macklin,  "  the 
father  of  the  Stage,"  died  in  1797  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
seven,  and  two  years  later  his  Life  was  published. 
In  this  was  detailed  a  promise  made  and  broken  by 
Mrs.  Jordan.  The  old  man's  last  years  had  been 
rendered  comfortable  by  the  sale  of  a  subscribed 
edition  of  his  works  in  1791,  at  which  time  Dorothy 
had  written  him  as  follows — 

"  I  have  done  myself  the  pleasure  of  subscribing  to 
your  works  ten  pounds,  and  request  you  will  accept  the 
same  from  me,  every  year,  in  remembrance  and  respect 
of  your  superior  abilities." 

After  this,  however,  she  had  found  a  more  insistently 
needy  friend  in  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  was  unable 
to  continue  the  ten  pounds  a  year  promised,  which 
made  Macklin  very  angry;  he  wrote  for  the  money, 
and  she,  shrinking  from  a  definite  refusal,  did  not 
answer.  So  in  his  Life  appeared  the  following 
criticism  :  "  She  "  (Mrs.  Jordan)  "  had  received  all  the 
merit  and  praise  due  to  her  for  her  promised  liberality, 
because  her  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Macklin  was  en- 
closed under  cover  to  Mr.  John  Bell,  bookseller, 
Strand ;  was  handed  about  in  his  shop  as  a  testimony 
of  her  generosity,  and  announced  publicly  in  the  news- 
papers; but,  lest  the  world  should  be  misled,  we  can 
assure  the  public  that  Mr.  Macklin  never  received  one 
single  shilling  from  Mrs.  Jordan  subsequent  to  her  first 
subscription.  The  sum  of  the  transaction  is  this  :  Mrs. 
Jordan  had  all  the  merit  of  the  bounty;  Mr.  Macklin 
had  not  the  benefit  of  it." 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park     221 

Would  Macklin's  vexed  spirit  have  been  soothed 
had  it  known  how  deeply  Dorothy  felt  this  reproach, 
and  what  an  impression  his  hardness  made  upon  her 
mind  ?  In  one  of  her  conversations  with  Miss  Williams 
at  St.  Cloud  in  1816  she  referred  to  the  Macklin 
episode — 

"  I  must  repeat,  Miss  Williams,  that  it  never  came 
within  my  knowledge  to  observe  cruelty  a  predominant 
passion  in  a  performer;  the  only  instance  I  remember 
upon  record  of  malice  being  carried  to  a  pitch  of 
revenge  was  exemplified  in  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Macklin, 
who  certainly  seemed  to  possess  the  germs  of  vin- 
dictiveness  in  his  composition."  She  continued,  re- 
ferring to  the  Kembles,  but  not  by  name  :  "  As  for 
jealousy  and  ill -nature,  I  had  an  awful  share  to 
encounter  in  the  progress  of  my  public  life,  and  from 
quarters  pursuing  a  different  walk,  consequently  the 
last  who  ought  to  have  manifested  their  spleen  towards 
me.  For  a  considerable  time  I  met  those  shafts  with 
good  nature,  but,  finding  such  conduct  increase  rather 
than  otherwise,  I  banished  my  smiles  and  had  recourse 
to  reserve,  until,  the  attacks  becoming  too  frequent  and 
pointed  for  further  endurance,  I  was  compelled  to 
make  my  grievances  known  in  another  channel"  (Sheri- 
dan), "  where  immediate  redress  was  accorded  me." 

Dorothy  worked  very  hard  this  year,  and  appeared 
in  several  new  pieces,  one  being  The  Will,  by 
Frederick  Reynolds,  another  Cumberland's  The  Last 
of  the  Family,  in  which  Dorothy  took  the  part  of  the 
heroine.  In  June  she  closed  the  Covent  Garden 
season  by  acting  Peggy  and  Nell  for  a  benefit,  and  at 
Drury  Lane  she  did  The  Country  Girl  for  the  widows 
and  orphans  made  by  the  battle  off  Cape  St.  Vincent. 
Later,  a  benefit  was  given  for  the  sufferers  in  Lord 


222     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Duncan's  action  off  the  coast  of  Holland,  when 
Dorothy  Jordan  acted  in  The  Will  and  The  Prize. 
"  In  short,"  says  Boaden,  "  she  was  a  full  and  perfect 
contrast  to  those  whose  services  were  always  to  be  paid, 
though  exerted  even  for  a  relation."  By  which  last 
sentence  Boaden  meant  Mrs.  Siddons,  who,  whether 
she  deserved  it  or  not,  had  gained  the  reputation  of 
never  playing  except  for  money. 

That  summer  Mrs.  Jordan  acted  both  at  Richmond 
and  Margate.  At  the  latter  place  she  found  the 
bracing  air  very  good  after  the  closeness  of  London 
and  the  relaxing  effect  of  the  Thames  Valley,  and  from 
this  time  she  often  not  only  refreshed  her  body  but 
replenished  her  purse  in  the  small  but  fashionable 
Thanet  resort. 

Once  while  on  the  Margate  stage  she  had  to  act  with 
a  hitherto  unknown  Irishman,  and  at  the  point  where 
he  had  to  kiss  her  in  the  play  she  turned  her  head  so 
as  to  present  little  more  than  her  ear. 

"Och,  by  Jasus,"  said  he,  "  I'll  be  d d  if  I  kiss 

you  at  all,  at  all ;  if  you  won't  let  me  play  my  part  as 
a  man  should,  you  may  do  it  all  yourself."  And  he 
very  deliberately  walked  off  the  stage,  to  the  loud  and 
delighted  laughter  of  the  audience. 

Among  her  plays  that  autumn  was  The  Castle 
Spectre,  by  "  Monk  "  Lewis,  which  was  very  short  but 
regarded  as  astonishingly  beautiful,  its  chief  attraction 
being  a  glorified  ghost  scene  in  which  the  spirit  of 
Angela's  mother  comes  from  an  oratory,  which  is  sud- 
denly and  miraculously  illuminated,  to  bless  her 
orphan  child.  This  made  the  little  play  so  popular 
that  it  was  acted  nearly  fifty  times  during  the  season. 

This  character  of  Angela  explains  an  allusion  in  a 
hurried  letter  Dorothy  wrote  to  Lewis,  asking  that  she 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    223 

might  bring  a  new  comedy  of  his  before  the  public. 
The  letter  is  undated,  but  as  the  comedy  was  brought 
out  in  1 799  it  must  have  been  written  about  this  time. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Before  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  last 
I  had  determined  to  write  to  you  to  request  that  you 
would  have  the  goodness  to  enable  me  to  have  the 
happiness  of  presenting  the  public  the  Comedy  of  the 
East  Indian^  as  any  production  of  yours  would  prove 
of  the  utmost  consequence.  I  cannot  describe  to  you 
how  disappointed  I  should  be,  independent  of  the  great 
loss  of  so  great  an  attraction.  I  will  put  off  my  night 
till  after  Bannister's;  don't  let  poor  Angela  plead  in 
vain.  I  will  have  the  copy  returned  to  me  after  the 
play;  of  the  success  I  have  not  a  doubt.  Once  more 
let  me  entreat. 

"  Yours  ever  obliged, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

From  January  16  to  March  14,  1798,  Dorothy  acted 
every  theatrical  night,  and  then,  an  opera  being 
put  on,  she  had  some  rest.  In  May  she  was  in 
O'Keefe's  She's  Eloped,  in  which  she  "  laboured  hard 
for  the  author,  but  the  task  was  hopeless  from  the  first 
act."  Of  this  failure  O'Keefe  wrote — 

"  For  '  She's  Eloped '  her  gentle  heart  much  grieved, 
That  jilt,  called  Fortune,  ceased  to  use  me  well, 
My  comic  efforts  were  but  ill  received, 
With  Dora  tho'  she  came,  frowns  greet  my  Arabel." 

In  June,  to  mention  benefit  nights  only,  she  gave  her 
services  for  the  General  Lying-in  Hospital;  her 
Beatrice  in  The  Panel  drew  crowds  to  Miss  De  Camp's 
evening,  and  in  September  she  acted  in  The  Stranger 


224     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

for  the  benefit  of  John  Palmer's  children;  he,  poor 
man,  having  fallen  dead  on  the  stage  in  the  May  of 
that  year,  it  was  said,  through  grief  at  the  loss  of  his 
wife  and  a  favourite  child.  This  summer  she  acted  at 
Richmond,  but  nowhere  else,  for  which  abstinence 
there  was  sufficient  family  reason,  in  that  on  November 
1 8  her  daughter  Mary  was  born  at  Bushy  House. 

This  time  she  seems  to  have  taken  a  long  rest,  for 
the  next  public  mention  of  her  is  in  March  1799;  for 
her  benefit  in  April  she  played  in  the  East  Indian  the 
part  she  had  been  so  anxious  to  secure  from  "  Monk  " 
Lewis.  In  May  Mrs.  Siddons,  Kemble  and  Dorothy 
were  rehearsing  Pizarro,  a  tragedy  by  Kotzebue,  whose 
Stranger  had  made  him  popular  in  England.  Sheridan 
had  spent  months  in  altering  the  play,  and  so  took  a 
paternal  interest  in  its  representation,  passing  an  even- 
ing of  acute  misery  in  his  box  on  the  opening  night. 
He  did  not  believe  in  Mrs.  Jordan  for  tragedy,  but  had 
to  give  her  the  second  woman's  part  that  he  might 
secure  the  attraction  of  her  name,  but  he  was  certain 
that  she  would  not  come  up  to  his  ideal.  Boaden  says 
that  he  was  in  the  utmost  ill-humour,  shocked,  almost 
stamping  with  anger  at  everything  Dorothy  said,  and 
declaring  that  she  could  not  speak  a  line  of  it  properly. 
But  his  chief  terror  was  over  Mrs.  Siddons,  who  had 
not  fallen  in  with  his  notion  of  the  character,  and  he 
kept  saying,  "  There,  there,  I  told  you,  Richardson, 
that  she  would  never  fall  into  the  character."  With 
Kemble,  however,  he  was  transported,  crying,  "  Beau- 
tiful !  sublime  !  perfection  !  " 

However,  the  players  settled  down  to  their  parts, 
and  the  piece  had  a  wonderful  run ;  as  some  one  said, 
"  Fortunately  the  health  and  strength  of  the  performers 
lasted  through  thirty-one  repetitions,"  Sheridan  being 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park    225 

the  better  by  £15,000.  These  Kotzebue  dramas  were 
all  built  upon  seduction  and  villainy,  but  their  intense 
Teutonic  sentimentalism  made  them  very  dear  to  the 
English  heart. 

Through  all  this  work  Dorothy  continued  her  mater- 
nal cares,  her  children  coming  quickly  one  after  the 
other,  and  on  December  9  she  gave  birth  to  the  boy 
Frederick  mentioned  in  a  foregoing  letter.  There 
was,  in  fact,  little  truth  in  the  compliment  which  The 
Comic  Muse  tried  to  pay  the  new  Countess  of  Derby 
through  Dorothy — 

"  Jordan  be  sure  to  do  your  house  a  grace 
Would  cease  her  labours  for  the  Brunswick  race ; 
Proud  for  your  brow  the  laurel  wreath  to  twine, 
Lop  off  one  hero  from  the  royal  line." 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  Kelly  and  Sheridan  laid 
a  bet  as  to  whether  the  King  could  be  induced  to  attend 
the  Drury  Lane  Pantomime  of  Blue  Beard,  evidence 
of  which  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  on  a  scrap 
of  paper  bearing  the  following — 

"  Dec.  8,  99.  Mr.  Kelly  Bets  Mr.  Sheridan  a  Rump 
and  Dozen  that  the  King  comes  to  Drury  Lane 
Theatre  this  season  to  the  performance  of  Blue  Beard. 

"M.  KELLY. 
"  R.  SHERIDAN. 
"  At  40  Curzon  Street." 

Pressure  was  probably  put  upon  the  King  to  extend 
his  patronage  once  more  to  Drury  Lane,  though 
whether  he  saw  Blue  Beard  must  remain  unknown. 
But  if  Kelly  lost  his  bet  the  moral  victory  lay  with  him, 
for  George  IV  commanded  several  performances  in 
the  spring  of  1800,  and  he  always  had  the  good  taste 


226     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

to  choose  plays  in  which  Dorothy  took  part.  On 
Thursday,  March  20,  she  played  before  him  as  Lady 
Contest  in  The  Wedding  Day ;  on  Thursday,  April  3, 
she  was  Miss  Prue  in  Love  for  Love;  and  on  May  15 
the  commanded  play  was  She  Would  and  She  Would 
Not. 

This  last  was  an  evening  long  to  be  remembered. 
The  King,  Queen  and  no  less  than  four  princesses 
arrived  in  state,  the  younger  people  anxious  again  to 
see  the  woman  who  "appeared  to  have  justified  the 
attachment  of  one  so  dear  to  them,  and  to  retain  his 
respect  as  well  as  his  affection."  Scarcely,  however, 
had  they  entered  their  boxes — indeed  before  all  were 
in,  and  while  the  King  stood  for  a  moment  in  the  front 
looking  upon  the  theatre,  when  a  half-crazy  man, 
named  Hadfield,  shot  at  him  from  the  pit.  The  Queen 
pressed  forward  to  know  what  was  wrong,  and  was 
told  it  was  only  a  squib.  But  she  was  too  alert  to  be 
deceived,  and  asked  her  royal  spouse  if  they  should 
remain. 

"  Certainly !  the  whole  of  the  entertainment,"  was 
the  kingly  response. 

So  these  poor  frightened  ladies  sat  out  a  long  per- 
formance, three  of  the  princesses  appropriately  faint- 
ing according  to  the  fashion  of  the  times.  All  honour 
to  the  fourth,  Elizabeth,  who  resisted  the  temptation 
to  add  to  the  confusion  ! 

The  audience  enjoyed  themselves  by  terrific  excite- 
ment, demanding  that  the  would-be  assassin,  who  had 
been  dragged  neck  and  crop  over  the  orchestra  box 
into  the  nether  regions,  should  be  produced  on  the 
stage  that  they  might  be  satisfied  that  he  was  properly 
bound.  So  Dorothy,  with  her  pretty  voice,  came  on  to 
assure  them  that  the  miscreant  was  perfectly  well 


From  Petersham  to  Bushy  Park     227 

secured  and  properly  attended.  Then,  with  the  intro- 
duction of  "  God  save  the  King,"  the  play  commenced. 
Every  one  was  too  agitated  to  act  well,  and  the  even- 
ing drew  to  an  early  close.  It  is  said  that  the  King 
recoiled  when  the  pistol-shot  sounded;  then  stepped 
boldly  to  the  front  of  the  box,  put  his  opera-glass  to 
his  eyes  and  calmly  looked  round  the  house.  That 
night  the  monarch  had  to  spend  a  considerable  time 
going  from  room  to  room  to  calm  the  weeping  and 
fainting  princesses,  Amelia  falling  into  one  fit  after 
another,  until  it  was  wondered  whether  she  would 
recover  at  all.  Some  people  are  fearing  to-day  lest 
women  should  lose  their  womanliness — that  is  to  say, 
lest  they  should  lose  their  sentimentality,  their  depend- 
ence, their  sweet,  clinging  ways ;  but  how  would  those 
people  like  it  if  the  dear  things  went  back  to  the 
manners  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  fainting  and  shedding 
floods  of  tears  whenever  any  untoward  event  occurred  ? 

Boaden  says  that  the  shooting  incident  was  bitter 
for  the  actors,  as  they  could  no  longer  hope  for  the 
King's  presence  in  their  house. 

Dorothy's  first  appearance  this  year,  March  18, 
1800,  was  an  ovation.  She  had  made  too  long  an 
absence,  said  The  Monthly  Mirror,  and  she  was  wel- 
comed "  with  a  warmth  which  proved  that  she  had  not 
lost  any  portion  of  that  popularity  which  her  admirable 
comic  talents  had  so  deservedly  gained  her." 

For  the  first  time  she  played  Lady  Teazle  on  May 
27,  a  part  which  was  a  favourite  with  her  to  the  end  of 
her  life.  It  was  this  month  that  she  introduced  "  a 
simple  little  ballad  "  into  her  part  of  Beatrice  in  The 
Panel,  called  "  The  Blue  Bells  of  Scotland,"  and  the 
following  year  this  song  was  published  as  being  com- 
posed and  sung  by  her,  which  gave  rise  to  a  Notes  and 


228     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Queries  controversy  in  1852,  as  well  as  a  reputation  to 
Dorothy  in  her  own  day  of  being  a  composer;  a  fact 
which  shows  how  ready  the  world  was  to  credit  their 
Thalia  with  powers  unusual  to  an  actress.1  She  was 
known  to  write  some  of  the  songs  she  sang,  and  even 
published  them  at  a  profit,  as  one  of  her  letters  shows ; 
she  was  believed  to  be  the  author,  or  part-author,  of 
at  least  two  plays,  The  Spoiled  Child  and  Anna,  and 
now  her  admirers  credited  her  with  being  a  composer 
of  music. 

1  The  words  of  the  song  in  question  were  of  much  earlier  date  ;  the 
composer  remains  undiscovered. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

FAMILY   CARES 

"  Should  British  women  from  the  contest  swerve  ? 
Well  form  a  female  army  of  reserve — 
And  class  them  thus.     Old  maids  are  pioneers; 
Widows,  sharpshooters ;  wives  are  fusileers; 
Maids  are  battalions — that's  all  under  twenty ; 
And  as  for  light  troops,  we  have  them  in  plenty; 
Vixens  the  trumpet  blow  ;  scolds  beat  the  drum — 
When  thus  prepared,  what  enemy  will  come  ?  " 

From  The  Soldier's  Daughter,  by  CHERRY. 

"  She  was  a  constant  wife,  an  affectionate  mother  and  a  sincere  friend, 
ever  solicitous  and  on  the  watch  for  their  united  comfort  and  happiness." 
— The  Fashionable  Cypriad,  on  Dorothy  Jordan. 

FOR  some  years  Dorothy  Jordan's  life  seems  out- 
wardly to  have  run  smoothly,  and  to  offer  nothing  of 
great  moment  to  the  chronicler.  She  passed  most  of 
her  time  at  Bushy,  a  new  baby  appearing  almost  every 
year. 

When  the  theatre  opened  in  September  1801, 
Dorothy  acted  for  about  two  months,  then  went  into 
the  country  to  prepare  for  the  coming  event,  which 
occurred  on  January  18,  on  which  date  her  daughter 
Elizabeth  was  born — she  who,  through  her  marriage 
with  the  Earl  of  Errol,  was  to  become  the  grandmother 
of  the  late  Duke  of  Fife. 

Thirteen  months  later,  on  February  18,  1802, 
another  child  arrived,  Adolphus,  whether  to  the  delight 
or  distress  of  his  parents  is  not  revealed.  By  this  time 
the  public  was  beginning  to  look  askance  at  that 
establishment  at  Bushy  House,  which  seemed  capable 
of  producing  a  whole  generation  of  pseudo-princelings, 
to  demand  support  from  John  Bull.  Thus,  the  Duke 

229 


230     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  Dorothy  were  made  by  newspaper  comment  to  feel 
their  children  something  of  a  care,  and  to  regard  each 
successive  arrival  with  apprehension.  The  caricaturist 
also  found  this  family  a  fit  subject  for  brush  and  pencil 
— though  the  output  of  pictorial  skits  was  nothing 
compared  with  that  which  harried  the  early  matri- 
monial life  of  Queen  Victoria.  The  pictures  were, 
however,  much  uglier ;  all  Clarence's  personal  defects, 
his  short  stature,  thick  lips  and  goggle  eyes  being 
cruelly  exaggerated.  In  one  cartoon  he  is  represented 
like  a  rough  farmer  mopping  his  heated  brow,  while 
he  drags  through  the  park  a  perambulator  containing 
three  hideous  children,  the  mother  walking  behind 
and  assiduously  studying  a  theatrical  part.  But  a  hint 
or  drawing  of  Dorothy,  describing  her  as  extravagant, 
or  using  money  wrongly  is  not  to  be  found  among 
them,  the  tendency  being  rather  to  prove  that  she  had 
little  money  to  spend.  Indeed,  these  two  people 
seemed  always  to  be  hard  up ;  the  Duke's  income  was 
gone  before  it  came,  even  though  he  lived  fairly 
quietly,  and  Dorothy  was  too  generous  ever  to  be  rich. 
She  had  many  ways  of  spending  an  income,  quite  apart 
from  her  own  home  and  personal  expenses,  and  it  was 
not  difficult  for  her  income  to  melt  and  leave  no  trace 
behind.  The  public  seemed  always  to  know  when  she 
felt  particularly  short  of  money,  as  the  following — 
very  likely  false — anecdote  shows — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan,  being  once  in  great  distress,  and 
dunned  by  an  apothecary,  besought  him  to  desist,  as 
she  was  unable  to  pay  him,  and  begged  that  he  would 
be  satisfied  with  taking  her  life.  The  son  of  ^scula- 
pius,  although  he  had  no  objection  to  sending  people 
out  of  the  world,  professionally,  and  secundem  artem, 
was  yet,  nevertheless,  quite  staggered  at  a  proposal 


Family  Cares  231 

that  sounded  so  terrible,  and  recoiled  from  it  in 
evident  horror.  Mrs.  Jordan,  however,  presented  to 
him — good  heavens,  a  dagger,  or  some  other  dreadful 
weapon?  No,  reader,  the  instrument  she  presented 
was  merely  intended  to  kill — time,  viz.  two  volumes  of 
her  own  Memoirs,  which  she  tendered  to  the  man  of 
medicine,  and  thus  relieved  him  from  his  amazement 
and  apprehension." 

At  this  time,  there  seems  to  have  been  little  differ- 
ence in  her  family  dependents.  George,  gentle, 
affectionate  and  inefficient,  was,  more  than  likely,  still 
a  pensioner,  though  he  was  soon  to  seek  his  fortunes 
in  America — and  to  find  there  a  pitiable  death.  Frank 
was,  undoubtedly,  still  requiring  all  the  assistance  he 
could  get  from  Dorothy,  who  could  never  refuse  giving 
if  she  had  anything  to  give.  He  was  also  the  occa- 
sional cause  of  domestic  trouble  between  her  and  the 
Duke,  who,  whatever  his  promises,  protestations  and 
bonds,  seemed  much  more  concerned  about  the  dis- 
position of  her  money  than  about  bestowing  upon  her 
the  promised  ,£1000  a  year. 

The  following  letter  must  have  been  written  when 
custom  had  staled  the  Duke's  love  and  trust  in  his 
partner's  carefulness ;  for  it  reveals  a  somewhat  painful 
state  of  things : 

"  DEAR  FRANK, 

"  Having  written  to  you  immediately  on  the  receipt 
of  your  last,  saying  that  as  soon  as  I  got  the  money  I 
would  send  you  what  I  could  spare,  I  was  greatly 
surprised  in  not  hearing  from  you  in  reply.  That  the 
person  to  whom  I  entrusted  the  letter  actually  opened 
it  and  kept  it  till  this  day,  will  account  for  my  wishing 
you  to  copy  the  enclosed  in  a  strange  hand,  and  direct 


232     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

it  to  Mrs.  King,  George's  Coffee-house,  Haymarket. 
This  woman  was  many  years  in  the  family  at  St. 
James,  and  I  suppose  wanted  to  catch  me  sending 
money  to  you  or  any  of  my  family.  The  sooner  you 
write  the  better.  You  must  afterwards  write  such  a 
letter  to  me  that  I  may  be  able  to  show  should  (it)  be 
necessary,  and  which  I  would  indite  for  you.  I  will 
send  you  to-morrow  £5. 

"  Yours, 
"D.  J." 

From  this  letter  it  can  be  seen  that  the  Duke  thought 
himself  justified  in  saying  how  Dorothy  might  spend 
the  money  she  earned,  and  that  if  she  wished  to  help 
a  worthless  brother,  disguised  handwriting  and  round- 
about methods  were  requisite.  It  shows  also  a  worse 
thing,  and  that  was,  that  people  about  the  Duke 
(notably  one  who  had  long  been  a  servant  in  the  Royal 
household),  had  permission,  if  not  instructions,  to  spy 
upon  Dorothy,  and  intercept  her  letters  ! 

Frank  had  married,  but  he  led  an  unsettled  life,  for 
he  had  now  no  profession.  When  he  went  to  Trelethyn 
he  was  no  doubt  persuaded  by  Dorothy,  who  gave  him 
an  allowance  of  £50  a  year ;  so  he  took  a  little  house 
in  the  Cathedral  Close  of  St.  Davids,  probably  hoping 
to  live  the  simple  life  within  his  income,  as  he  had  no 
children  to  support.  However,  this  did  not  last  long, 
and  Captain  Frank  Bland  returned  once  more  to  the 
wider  world.  What  he  did  then  is  matter  for  con- 
jecture; begged  of  Dorothy,  certainly,  while  she  tried 
various  means  of  finding  him  occupation.  A  friend  of 
mine  recently  saw  a  letter  which  the  Duke  of  York 
wrote  to  her  from  the  Horseguards,  in  the  spring  of 
J799»  promising  to  accede  to  her  request  of  appoint- 


Family  Cares  233 

ing  some  one  to  a  certain  post.  Who  was  this? 
Perhaps  Frank,  under  his  own,  or  an  assumed  name ; 
for  the  Duke  of  York,  who  was  soon  after  sent  to  the 
Netherlands,  was  in  a  position  then  to  make  appoint- 
ments for  that  expedition.  Perhaps  Francis  went  with 
him,  only  to  return  once  more  to  worry  his  sister.  In 
any  case,  he  entirely  disappears  from  record  after  this, 
and  it  may  be  that  a  strange  story  told  by  Laurence 
Oliphant  explains  what  became  of  him.1 

Oliphant  tells  that  when  in  Italy,  in  1862,  he  visited 
Manfredonia,  a  town  on  the  western  coast.  Walking 
through  the  streets  one  day,  he  was  accosted  by  a  little 
girl,  who  gave  him  a  note  which  ran — 

"  Miss  Thimbleby  requests  the  pleasure  of  the 
English  Gentleman's  company  to  tea  to-night,  at 
nine  o'clock.  Old  English  Style." 

Possessed  by  the  spirit  of  adventure,  he  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  found  his  way  in  the  evening  to  an 
6ld  tumble-down  palazzo.  On  entering,  he  mounted 
a  wide  and  beautiful  staircase  of  carved  oak,  at  the  top 
of  which  stood  a  little  old  woman,  like  a  witch  in 
appearance,  bobbing  and  curtseying  all  the  time  he 
was  making  the  ascent.  She  shook  hands  affection- 
ately and  warmly,  trembling  with  excitement  or  age — 
for  she  was  very,  very  old,  well  on  in  the  nineties,  she 
said.  She  had  forgotten  much  of  her  English,  having 
been  in  Italy  since  1804,  when  she  had  gone  there  with 
her  brother,  who  was  appointed  English  Consul  at 
Manfredonia,  that  year.  Her  brother  and  his  wife  had 
died  long  before,  but  she  had  a  small  pension  from  the 
English  Government,  and  was  taken  care  of  by  nieces 

1  Episode  in  a  Life  of  Adventure  in  Albania  and  Italy.     By  Laurence 
Oliphant,  1887. 


234     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  nephews.  She  also  said  that  her  brother  had  been 
connected  with  the  Duke  of  York's  expedition,  and 
that  her  sister  was  the  celebrated  Mrs.  Jordan.  Oli- 
phant  finishes  his  story  with,  "  Manfredonia  was  an 
odd  place  to  come  to  to  gather  the  moss  of  English 
history,  but  I  really  felt  as  if  I  had  made  a  discovery 
when  I  learnt  from  this  most  venerable,  and  highly 
respectable  old  lady  that  Mrs.  Jordan,  the  actress's  real 
name  was  Thimbleby." 

Oliphant  certainly  told  this  in  all  good  faith,  and 
was  quite  convinced  of  the  good  faith  of  the  old  lady, 
who  was  so  used  to  her  name  that  it  could  not  occur  to 
her  that  the  family  name  was  different;  and  though 
some  critics  may  think  it  absurd  to  attach  importance 
to  the  story,  yet  a  student  of  biography  knows  the 
futility  of  putting  aside  any  honest  evidence  without 
sifting  it;  and  in  this  matter  there  is  certainly  room 
for  conjecture.  General  circumstances  lend  to  it  an 
air  of  truth,  for,  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when 
Napoleon  was  harassing  Italy,  many  sub-consuls  were 
appointed,  especially  for  towns  on  the  coast.  So  here 
arose  a  way  of  disposing  of  the  tiresome  Frank,  and 
one  which,  by  good  management,  it  was  easy  to  take. 
The  Duke  of  Clarence,  however,  through  whom  it 
would  have  been  worked,  would  not  have  risked,  under 
the  recurring  state  of  public  irritation  against  himself, 
the  securing  of  even  a  minor  appointment  for  a  Bland, 
and  the  obvious  method  would  have  been  to  change 
the  name.  So  a  not  inconceivable  theory  is  that  Frank, 
his  wife,  and  his  youngest  sister,  all  under  the  name  of 
Thimbleby,  were  comfortably  shipped  off  to  vegetate 
in  the  little  town,  whence  they  would  find  it  very 
difficult  to  return.  In  any  case,  Frank  is  heard  of  no 
more  as  a  hanger-on  to  Dorothy's  fortunes,  and  the 


Family  Cares  235 

relatives  in  Wales  knew  neither  where  nor  when  he 
died. 

Thirty  years  after  the  English  Sub-consul  was 
appointed  at  Manfredonia,  a  stranger  called  upon 
Hester  Bland  at  Trelethyn,  and  told  her  that  he  was 
her  nephew,  "  a  son  (as  I  thought)  of  her  brother, 
Francis  Bland."  *  But  Hester  was  getting  old, 
seventy-five  then,  and  she  had  never  been  clever,  so 
she  told  him  that  he  was  not  a  Bland  at  all,  and  that  her 
brother  had  no  son.  If  the  Thimbleby  story  is  true, 
Frank  had  both  son  and  daughter,  after  going  to  Italy. 

Hester,  with  her  annuity  of  £50  a  year,  probably 
settled  down  in  Trelethyn  before  the  beginning  of 
1800,  for  about  this  time,  says  the  Welsh  chronicles, 
three  of  Dorothy's  girls  were  sent,  under  the  care  of  an 
aunt,  on  a  visit  to  their  relatives  there,  staying  a  while 
in  lodgings  in  St.  Davids.  As  Hester  was  well-known 
by  everyone  there,  and  by  the  writer  of  the  letter, 
stating  this  fact,  it  would  have  been  recorded  had  she 
been  the  chaperone. 

Nathaniel,  who  alone,  needed  nothing  of  Dorothy, 
lived  his  quiet,  childless  life  at  Trelethyn  until  his 
death  on  May  31,  1830,  his  wife  surviving  until  1852. 

So,  gradually,  the  burden  of  Dorothy's  contem- 
porary relatives  slipped  from  her  shoulders,  and  left 
her  free  to  think  of  the  children  who  needed  so  much, 
and  for  a  year  or  two  she  had  something  like  family 
peace.  But  she  could  never  have  felt  quite  secure  with 
such  a  man  as  Clarence,  though  she  would  now  have 
found  it  difficult  to  imagine  her  life  in  any  other  cir- 
cumstances. Her  love  for  the  stage  had  waned,  her 
ambition  was  satisfied,  she  had  received  adulation 
without  stint,  and  she  knew  herself  to  be  the  best 

1  Family  Letters. 


236     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

comedy  actress  on  the  stage.  So  she  took  longer  holi- 
days before  and  after  each  confinement,  and  there  were 
times  when  Drury  Lane  had  cause  to  regret  her 
absence.  Yet  the  want  of  pence  was  too  pressing  for 
her  to  dream  of  retiring,  even  if  her  rivalry  with  Mrs. 
Siddons  would  have  allowed  her  to  desert  the  field  of 
battle  before  that  majestic  actress  did  so. 

As  for  William  of  Clarence,  if  at  one  time  he  had 
shown  signs  of  an  errant  fancy,  he  now  appeared  to 
take  his  domesticity  as  a  long-standing  habit,  desiring 
nothing  else.  He  was  too  far  from  the  throne — four 
lives — for  him  to  be  a  person  of  national  importance, 
and  no  one  cared  whether  he  passed  his  life  by  the 
side  of  a  comedy  actress,  or  whether  he  married  an 
impecunious  German  princess.  Indeed,  his  fond 
parents,  at  this  time,  probably  preferred  the  actress, 
as  with  her  there  was  no  need  to  keep  up  state,  and  she 
could  do  much  to  help  the  family  exchequer.  Habit 
and  intimacy  had  deepened  Dorothy's  feelings,  so  that 
the  connection,  begun  as  a  bargain,  had  developed  into 
one  of  warm  affection.  She  wrote  in  one  letter  of  her 
dislike  to  writing  of  herself,  but  when  she  was  away 
from  Clarence  she  wrote  to  him  almost  every  day, 
indeed,  sometimes  twice  a  day.  These  were  not  letters 
in  the  usual  sense,  they  were  emanations  of  herself,  as 
inevitable  as  the  atmosphere,  she  wrote  because  she 
must,  and  because  her  whole  heart  and  soul  were 
wrapped  up  in  that  nestful  of  children  that  she  had 
left  behind  at  Bushy  Park,  and  the  man  who  guarded 
them. 

William  took  naturally  to  the  part  of  husband  and 
father,  as  has  been  said ;  he  read  over  and  criticized  all 
new  plays  that  might,  or  did,  offer  her  a  part;  he  not 
only  considered  all  offers  from  managers,  b  it  was  some- 


' 


Family  Cares  237 

times  the  first  person  to  be  approached  by  a  manager. 
His  vanity  still  drew  him  to  the  Green  Room  when  she 
performed,  for  he  liked  the  more  than  respect  which 
was  offered  him,  the  deference  to  his  opinion  however 
stupid  or  wild,  which  the  actors  gave;  and  he  really 
believed  himself  a  theatrical  critic. 

In  the  autumn,  Kemble  re-took  the  management  of 
Drury  Lane,  for  he  hoped  to  secure  a  third  share  in  the 
theatre,  the  money  matters  of  which  were  being 
adjusted.  He  had  not  altered,  he  still  believed  that 
Shakespeare  was  the  only  dramatist  worthy  of  his 
attention,  and  this,  while  it  proved  him  to  be  a  man  of 
literary  perception,  also  proved  his  weakness  as  a 
caterer  for  the  public.  But  modern  comedy  had  no 
fascination  for  him,  and  new  plays  he  still  hated ;  yet 
when  Mrs.  Jordan  made  her  reappearance  in  March 
1 80 1,  he  had  to  agree  to  its  being  in  The  Country  Girl, 
and,  as  manager,  he  must  have  been  glad  that  the  house 
was  overflowing,  and  that  she  was  received  with  shouts 
of  delight;  the  papers  next  day  reporting  her  as  look- 
ing extremely  well,  and  fascinating  everyone  with  her 
winning  gestures  and  sweet  silvery  voice. 

But  Kemble  did  not  follow  up  this  advantage.  He 
next  put  on  a  tragedy,  Count  Julian,  which  was  "full 
of  tedious  horrors,"  and  then  a  play  in  which  a  ghost 
appeared  three  times,  so  that,  at  last,  in  place  of  a 
shuddering  thrill,  the  spectred  shade  was  greeted  with 
hilarious  laughter.  Boaden  says  of  him  at  this  time, 
'  Though  Kemble  had  the  best  comic  actress  in  the 
world  in  his  company,  he  let  Covent  Garden  take  all 
the  advantage  of  him " ;  and  whenever  he  was  at  a 
loss  he  put  on  A  Bold  Stroke  For  a  Wife,  his  stock 
piece  "  for  all  the  damned  among  the  plays."  He 
loved  spectacle  almost  as  much  as  he  did  Shakespeare, 


238     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  was  kept  as  before,  almost  without  money.  Thus, 
having  come  back  to  all  the  old  disadvantages,  and 
retaining  all  his  old  predilections,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  theatre  closed  in  the  middle  of  June,  after  a 
disastrous  season. 

In  the  spring  of  1802,  Dorothy  did  not  appear  in 
London  until  April  5th,  beginning  as  usual  in  The 
Country  Girl.  "  She  never  looked  better,  nor  played 
with  greater  effect,"  said  a  writer  in  the  Monthly 
Mirror.  She  was  now  forty,  and  seems  to  have  re- 
tained her  youthful  appearance  remarkably  for  that 
period.  At  Richmond  that  summer,  it  was  judged  that 
"  time  had  made  no  inroads  upon  her  superior  talent," 
and  one  paper  declared  that  her  private  character  was 
so  "  that  were  we  to  divest  it  of  its  great  public  excel- 
lence, which  is  certainly  unrivalled,  the  countenance 
and  support  that  lady  receives  from  the  nobility  and 
gentry  round  Richmond  would  not  be  unmerited." 

She  acted  almost  every  summer  at  this  town,  and 
also  at  Margate,  probably  not  being  always  quite 
punctual  in  arriving,  as  the  following  advertisement 
makes  a  special  point  of  the  fact  that  she  was  already 
in  the  town — 

"MRS.  JORDAN 

is  engaged  to  perform  six  nights  and  will  make  her  first  appearance 

this  evening  in  the  character  of  Letitia  Hardy. 

N.B. — Mrs.  Jordan  is  arrived. 

Theatre  Royal,  Margate. 

This  present  evening 

Monday,  the  zjrd  of  August,  1802, 

will  be  presented  the  favourite  comedy  of 

'THE   BELLE'S   STRATAGEM.' 

Dorincourt — Mr.  Russell." 


Family  Cares  239 

The  following  letter  to  the  manager  of  the  Margate 
Theatre,  arranging  for  this  visit  is  interesting,  in  that 
it  shows  the  terms  Dorothy  made  at  this  time;  terms 
which  seem  to  be  peculiarly  complicated ;  and  also  that 
she  acknowledges  that  she  has  "  permission  "  to  play, 
this  could  have  been  only  from  the  Duke,  as  presum- 
ably no  permission  was  necessary  during  the  summer 
season,  when  Drury  Lane  was  closed. 

"  Bushy  House,  Saturday.    (Postmark  1802.) 

"Mrs.  Jordan's  compliments  to  Mr.  Shaw;  if  the 
following  terms  meet  his  approbation,  she  will  perform 
at  Margate  six  nights,  at  thirty  guineas  per  night,  the 
7th,  clear  of  all  expenses,  for  her  benefit;  twenty 
guineas  for  her  expenses ;  in  consideration  of  this,  she 
will  perform  the  8th  night  for  ten  pounds,  for  the 
proprietors.  Mrs.  Jordan  will  be  obliged  for  an 
immediate  answer,  having  got  permission  to  play,  and 
having  many  applications." 

Before  she  ended  her  visit  to  the  Kentish  watering- 
place,  an  alarming  accident  occurred  while  The 
Country  Girl  was  being  acted,  for  in  the  window  scene 
the  flame  from  one  of  the  lamps  on  the  stage  caught 
the  train  of  her  dress,  and  she  was  instantly  in  a  blaze. 
Happily  there  were  many  people  at  hand  to  help,  and 
she  was  not  hurt,  though  one  side  of  her  clothing  was 
almost  consumed.  The  fright  among  the  audience  was 
great,  but  Dorothy  insisted  upon  going  through  with 
the  play,  "though  in  a  very  depressed  state."  She 
ought,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  time,  to  have 
fainted,  but  was  too  unconsciously  modern  for  that. 

It  was  on  May  25,  1802,  that  Tom  King  took  his 
farewell  of  the  public,  and  Dorothy  played  Lady 
Teazle  with  great  vivacity  to  his  Sir  Peter.  King  had 


240     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

been  acting  for  fifty-four  years,  and  had  well-earned 
in  his  turn  the  title  of  the  Father  of  the  Stage.  On  this 
his  last  night,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  play,  Charles 
Kemble  led  the  old  man  to  the  front,  and  he  tremu- 
lously stumbled  through  his  farewell,  being  raptur- 
ously applauded  by  the  touched  audience.  When  he 
had  finished,  Mrs.  Jordan,  looking  "  absolutely  beauti- 
ful from  the  interest  she  took,"  led  him  from  the  stage 
to  a  seat  in  the  Green  Room,  where  he  had  to  listen 
to  the  usual  kindly  speeches,  and  accept  a  silver  salver 
and  cup,  Dorothy  raising  the  latter  to  his  lips  that  he 
might  consecrate  it  to  his  own  use. 

In  May  of  the  following  year  she  helped  another 
old  actor,  Charles  Lee  Lewis,  to  say  farewell  to  the 
public  at  Covent  Garden,  playing  Violante  in  The 
Wonder,  with  him.  Mrs.  Litchfield,  whom  she  had  once 
watched  acting  at  Richmond  with  so  much  interest,  was 
to  recite  "  Alexander's  Feast,"  and  coming  downstairs 
dressed  for  her  part,  she  met  Dorothy,  who  complained 
to  her  that  she  was  suffering  from  nervousness,  and 
taking  Mrs.  Litchfield's  hand,  she  pressed  it  to  her 
heart  (which  was  generally  in  her  mouth,  says  the 
facetious  Boaden)  to  feel  how  it  trembled.  "  Now 
you  are  a  good,  kind  creature,"  she  said,  "will  you 
take  the  book  to  the  wing  and  prompt  me  if  I  should  be 
at  a  loss?" 

In  the  summer  of  1802,  Kemble  again,  and  finally, 
resigned  his  management;  making  his  last  speech  in 
Drury  Lane  Theatre  on  June  24th,  after  Dorothy  had 
been  playing  Viola.  He  had  been  receiving  fifty-five 
guineas  a  week,  and  was  not  then  forty-five;  but  his 
desire  to  be  owner  of  a  theatre  bearing  his  name  made 
him  break  entirely  with  the  house  in  the  service  of  which 
he  had  spent  so  many  years,  and  go  to  Covent  Garden 


Family  Cares  241 

with  Mrs.  Siddons  and  his  brother  Charles.  To  guide 
the  theatre,  a  board  of  management  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  one  of  its  five  members  was  Sir  Richard 
Ford,  elected  because  of  his  position  as  a  shareholder. 
Bannister,  who  believed  in  comedy,  became  acting- 
manager,  and  he  and  Mrs.  Jordan  were  the  two  main 
props  of  the  theatre,  for  Mrs.  Crouch  was  also  gone. 
'  Time  was  when  she  possessed  great  powers  of 
attraction,  but  now  the  period  is  past — past,  never  to 
return.  She  is  getting  old,"  announced  a  magazine. 
It  was  not  age,  for  she  was  two  years  younger  than 
Dorothy,  but  illness  induced  by  drink  said  some, 
consumption  said  others — and  she  died  abroad  in 
1805. 

Towards  the  end  of  1802,  Dorothy  was  away  from 
the  theatre,  not  because  of  her  own  illness,  but  because 
of  the  serious  illness  of  one  of  her  children.  She  was 
engaged  to  play  Miranda  in  The  Busybody  for  the 
first  time,  and  Bannister,  fearful  of  losing  her  help,  had 
his  anxiety  relieved  when,  early  in  December,  she 
wrote  to  him — 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  my  dear 
little  girl  is  so  much  better  to-night,  that  Sir  John 
Hayes  has  pronounced  her  quite  out  of  danger.  I  shall 
therefore  be  ready  for  to-morrow's  rehearsal  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  also  to  play  Miranda.  The  Duke,  as  well 
as  myself,  is  most  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  concern 
and  attention,  which  I  shall  ever  think  of  with  pleasure 
and  gratitude. 

"  Yours,  D.  JORDAN." 

Serious   domestic   worry   was   beginning   to   press 
hardly  upon  her,  for  the  affairs  of  the   Duke  were 
getting  into  a  worse  and  worse  condition,  debt  was 
Q 


242     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

piling  heavily  upon  him,  and  much  as  Dorothy  might 
have  liked  to  devote  herself  to  her  family,  the  need  of 
money  was  too  great  for  her  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
doing  so  for  long  at  a  time.  If  Clarence  did  sometimes 
wish  that  she  might  stay  at  home,  as  is  generally 
affirmed,  he  was  very  philosophical  over  her  absences, 
and  as  Boaden  said  about  the  play  The  Marriage 
Promise  by  Allingham,  which  brought  much  grist  to 
the  mill — 

"  Mr.  '  Adviser '  did  not  in  the  least  demur  to  Mrs. 
Jordan's  accepting  her  character  in  the  present 
comedy." 

Another  cause  of  growing  worry  was  her  eldest 
daughter,  Frances,  or  Fanny  as  she  was  generally 
called,  who  was  a  troublesome  person  to  manage.  She 
was  not  at  all  beautiful ;  when,  in  1815,  she  tried  acting 
the  critics  variously  pronounced  her  as  "too  deficient 
in  personal  appearance,"  "  face  and  figure  an  insuper- 
able bar  to  success,"  "  she  has  but  little  to  account  for 
to  nature  in  point  of  her  personal  appearance.  Short 
in  stature,  lusty  in  person,  and  not  very  elegantly 
formed,  nor  blessed  with  very  fascinating  features." 
This  would  have  mattered  little,  in  one  way,  had  she 
been  of  a  more  sober  character,  but  her  whole  history 
points  to  fickleness,  hot  temper  and  want  of  self- 
control. 

However,  Dorothy  was  ever  hopeful  about  her  girls, 
who,  as  long  as  they  remained  girls,  were  to  her  the 
best  living.  So  when  Frances  came  of  age  in  1803, 
she  gained  her  desire  of  a  house  in  London,  one  being 
chosen  in  Golden  Square,  where,  with  much  festivity, 
she  was  settled,  in  touch  with  many  of  her  mother's 
friends.  The  other  two  girls,  Dorothea  and  Lucy, 
lived  sometimes  with  her  and  sometimes  with  their 


Family  Cares  243 

mother  at  Bushy.  Of  the  third  girl,  Hester,  there 
is  at  this  time  no  record. 

If  Dorothy  was  so  extravagant  as  to  allow  her  eldest 
daughter  an  income  and  a  house  in  town,  she  had  to 
pay  for  it,  though  there  was  evidence  later  that  she 
had  saved  money  for  this  purpose — which  money  had 
been  lent  to  the  Duke.  So  that  her  daughter  might 
frivol  in  London,  she  started  her  spring  season  of  1804 
as  early  as  January  2,  and  acted  almost  without  rest 
until  the  autumn.  With  her  representation  of  Widow 
Cheerly  in  The  Soldier's  Daughter,  she  made  both 
public  and  management  happy,  for  the  play  produced 
,£7500  in  twenty  nights,  and  this  was  partly  owing  to 
her  ability  to  seize  on  popular  fervour  at  the  right 
moment.  There  was  just  then  a  tremendous  enthu- 
siasm for  volunteering,  and  she  electrified  the 
audience  by  giving  a  soldier-like  delivery  of  Atten- 
tion !  and  speaking  an  epilogue  describing,  with  much 
humour,  the  constitution  of  a  female  army  of  reserve. 

Delaval  and  Clara  Dorothy  is  said  to  have  entirely 
saved  from  destruction,  but  The  Land  we  Live  In 
having  been  tremendously  well-announced  was, 
partly  by  reaction,  found  disappointing.  The  audience 
showed  its  scorn  so  actively  that  Dorothy  most  wisely 
refused  to  speak  the  Epilogue,  which  ran — 

"'Give  you  an  Epilogue? — not  I,'  says  he, 
'An  epilogue's  an  ex  post  facto  plea 
That  comes  behind,  when  all  the  mischief's  done, 
And  play  and  poet,  hooted,  damned  and  gone." 

She  played  at  Bannister's  benefit  at  Drury  Lane, 
and  for  that  of  Bannister  Junior  at  Covent  Garden, 
and  in  the  summer  went  to  Margate  for  eight  nights, 
where,  though  there  was  "  much  genteel  company  in  the 
boxes,  the  house  was  not  well  attended."  However, 
she  carried  away  £208  as  a  result  of  the  week's  work. 


244     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1804  that  England  went 
foolish  over  a  child  of  thirteen  years,  whose  name  was 
Henry  West  Betty,  and  who,  having  seen  Mrs. 
Siddons  in  her  deepest  tragedy  two  years  earlier,  was 
so  inspired  with  emulation,  that  he  declared  he  should 
die  if  he  were  not  an  actor.  His  father  encouraged 
him,  gave  him  some  training,  and  took  him  through 
Ireland,  Scotland  and  the  Provinces  acting  the  chief 
characters  in  tragic  plays.  The  novelty  affected  the 
public  in  an  extraordinary  way;  so  that  Mr.  Betty 
considered  that  only  the  most  important  theatres  in  the 
country  were  suitable  as  settings  for  his  son's  talents. 
Thus,  in  December  1804,  he  appeared  at  Covent 
Garden,  and  on  the  first  night  crowds  gathered  as 
early  as  one  or  two  o'clock  for  the  doors  to  open,  people 
stretching  in  thick  impenetrable  columns  across  Bow 
Street.  Those  who  had  no  hope  of  entering  the 
building  lined  the  streets  and  windows,  the  excitement 
being  so  great  that  a  large  number  of  police  officers 
were  gathered  inside  the  theatre,  and  a  detachment  of 
guards  outside.  Many  in  the  crowd  fainted,  and  when 
at  last  the  doors  were  opened  there  was  danger  of 
suffocation  in  the  passages.  People  paid  for  boxes 
and  arrived  to  find  seats  crammed  with  those  who  had 
climbed  in  over  the  front  from  other  parts  of  the  house, 
others  paid  their  money  for  the  pit,  and  on  getting  in, 
found  it  thronged  to  suffocation  by  folk  who  had  taken 
more  expensive  places,  and  had  climbed  down  from 
the  boxes.  It  was  uproar  and  confusion  of  the  worst 
kind,  for  no  consideration  was  given  to  anybody.  The 
manager,  Kemble,  came  on  to  speak  the  prologue,  and 
was  howled  off,  the  discriminating  audience  wanted  to 
see  Betty,  and  Betty  only  would  they  see  and  hear. 


Family  Cares  245 

Even  the  first  act  of  the  play,  Barbarossa,  in  which  the 
boy  did  not  appear,  was  hissed,  and  cries  made  for 
him.  When  he  was  on  the  stage,  everything  he  did 
or  said  was  applauded  rapturously,  for  only  he  existed 
for  this  demented  audience. 

Thomas  Campbell  was  full  of  scorn  for  him,  saying 
that,  "  The  popularity  of  that  baby-faced  boy,  who 
possessed  not  even  the  elements  of  a  good  actor,  was  a 
hallucination  in  the  public  mind,  and  a  disgrace  to  our 
theatre  history.  .  .  .  He  received  payment  for  his 
childish  acting  that  was  never  accorded  to  Garrick  or 
Siddons." 

This  infant  played  ten  nights  at  Covent  Garden, 
taking  fifty  guineas  a  night,  and  then  went  to  Drury 
Lane ;  the  twenty-eight  nights  he  played  there  bringing 
to  the  theatre  £17,210,  snatching  it  from  ruin,  and 
causing  his  far-seeing  father  to  double  the  price  of  his 
services.  Neither  Dorothy  nor  Mrs.  Siddons  could 
have  any  hope  of  working  this  miracle,  and  while  the 
second  retired  from  sight,  and  Kemble  had  a  con- 
venient illness,  the  first  mildly  joined  in  the  general 
excitement.  Whether  she  believed  in  Betty  or  not, 
the  Duke  of  course  did,  and  she  was  naturally 
influenced  by  him.  Being  a  comedy  actress,  her 
prestige  did  not  suffer — as  that  of  the  Kembles  did 
so  bitterly — equally  with  her  pocket.  So  she  went 
to  see  the  boy,  applauded  him,  and  probably  watched 
with  amused  indulgence  the  enthusiasm  of  that  great 
dramatic  critic,  the  Duke  of  Clarence.  He  made 
himself  very  busy  over  Betty,  frankly  taking  him 
up,  interviewing  him  at  St.  James's  Palace,  having 
portraits  of  him  painted  by  James  Northcote,  the 
academician,  sometimes  driving  him  to  the  studio  for 


his  sittings,  and  even  remaining  to  watch  the  painting. 
One  of  these  portraits,  that  in  the  character  of  young 
Norval,  the  Duke  presented  to  young  Betty,  who  had 
it  engraved  and  dedicated  to  his  patron. 

For  one  season,  Master  Betty  flourished  like  the 
green  bay  tree,  but  in  the  second  season  the  changeable 
London  audience  began  to  laugh  in  the  wrong  places, 
and  "  he  faded  like  a  premature  blossom,"  as  Bannister 
said.  However,  while  he  acted,  he  amassed  a  sufficient 
fortune  for  him  to  live  in  comfortable  style  in  the  West 
End  of  London  until  he  died  of  old  age. 

Drury  Lane  was  in  low  water,  and  made  desperate 
attempts  to  swell  its  exchequer  by  introducing  one 
freakish  child  after  another,  one  being  four  and  a  half 
years  old,  and  even  to  the  extent  of  engaging  a  whole 
troup  of  German  infants,  and  putting  on  a  confident 
little  girl  named  Fisher  to  act  Little  Pickle.  The 
audience  seems  to  have  put  up  with  it  once  in  the 
spring  of  1805,  but  when  she  appeared  again  in 
October,  they  yelled  and  hissed  until  the  curtain  was 
dropped,  and  not  a  word  of  the  farce  was  heard. 
Dorothy  herself  seems  to  have  been  responsible  for  the 
introduction  of  a  little  boy,  "another  Roscius,  who 
acted  at  Richmond  that  summer  with  some  eclat." 
Slowly  the  craze  died  out,  and  the  theatrical  world 
recovered  its  sanity. 

There  was  some  disagreement  between  Dorothy  and 
Bannister  at  Drury  Lane  at  the  beginning  of  1805,  over 
a  play  named  The  Honeymoon,  She  might  have  had 
the  choice  of  two  parts,  but  it  seems  that,  not  unlike 
actresses  of  a  more  recent  date,  she  wished  to  focus 
attention  upon  herself,  and,  finding  that  these  two  parts 
were  equally  important,  and  that  the  honours  must  be 


Family  Cares  247 

shared,  she  determined  not  to  play  at  all;  a  decision 
which  Bannister  thought  unjustifiable;  however, 
Harriot  Mellon  came  to  the  rescue,  and  was  very 
successful.1 

Thus,  her  own  benefit  in  April  or  May,  and  benefits 
for  other  actors  made  up  her  theatrical  life  for  the  first 
half  of  1805.  But  her  absence  from  the  theatre  just 
then  was  only  partially  due  to  the  dispute,  for  on 
March  i  a  son  was  born  to  her  at  Bushy  House,  to 
whom  was  given  the  name  of  Augustus ;  another  baby, 
Augusta,  having  come  into  the  world  on  November  20, 
1803.  This  gave  her  twelve  or  thirteen  children  to 
think  about,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  her  attendances 
were  less  and  less  frequent  at  the  theatre.  Yet,  in 
September  1805,  she  started  again  in  The  Country 
Girl,  "  the  chef  d'oeuvre  of  this  incomparable  actress," 
performed  Violante  in  The  Wonder  for  some  one's 
benefit,  and  was  acting  through  to  December. 

1  Memoirs  of  Harriot,  Duchess  of  St.  Albans.    By  Mrs.  Cornwell  Baron 
Wilson. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

SLINGS    AND   ARROWS 

"  I  frequently  asked  myself  as  the  encore  was  reiterated,  what  in  the 
name  of  reason  could  conduce  to  call  forth  such  popular  enthusiasm. 
That  a  few  simple  notes  uttered  by  a  very  mediocre  voice,  unadorned 
by  shake  or  cadence,  should  create  a  ferment  bordering  on  enthusiasm, 
was,  I  confess,  to  me  inexplicable,  and  what  is  more,  will  ever  remain  so  ; 
at  the  same  time,  do  not  misunderstand  me,  the  plaudits  were  not  one 
jot  the  less  welcome  to  my  feelings." — DOROTHY  JORDAN  on  her  own 
singing. 

THE  Duke  had  struggled  on  with  his  monetary  diffi- 
culties until  early  in  1806,  and  then  he  had  a  stroke 
of  luck :  for  some  vessels  captured  after  the  Battle 
of  Trafalgar  had  brought  a  large  sum  to  the  King's 
treasury,  and  the  King's  sons  were  given  a  share  of 
the  spoil — Clarence,  Kent,  Cumberland  and  Sussex 
having  each  £20,000  wherewith  to  pay  off  some  of 
their  debts.  This  was  a  prize ;  but  early  in  1 806,  Pitt 
having  died  in  January,  the  Duke  of  Clarence's  con- 
stant application  for  a  larger  income  was  met  by  an 
increase  of  £6000,  bringing  up  his  annual  total  to 
£18,000.  He  had  further  the  pay  of  an  Admiral  of 
the  Fleet  and  "  the  profitable  situation  of  Ranger  of 
Bushey  Park."  In  addition  there  was  Dorothy's  in- 
come; as  The  Monthly  Mirror — grumbling  over  the 
increase — put  it,  he  had  the  peculiar  advantage  of  an 
excellent  and  economical  housekeeper  "  who  has  acted 
her  part  both  in  public  and  private  with  deserved  suc- 
cess." Thus,  apart  from  Dorothy's  money,  he  had 
not  less  than  £20,000  a  year,  and  probably  more. 

It  is  true  that  he  had  by  bond  settled  a  thousand  a 
year  upon  the  mother  of  his  children,  but  what  did 
that  exactly  mean  ?  Simply  that  she  lived  with  him  as 

248 


Slings  and  Arrows  249 

his  wife,  and  shared  in  his  surroundings.  That  she 
kept  her  income  separately  from  his  is  scarcely  to  be 
credited,  any  more  than  it  can  be  believed  that  he  paid 
over  to  her  a  certain  sum  quarterly  or  yearly.  The 
author  of  The  Great  Illegitimates,  in  a  temporary  fit 
of  admiration,  says  that  he  was  munificent  to  those 
around  him  and  lived  upon  his  income,  and  that 
Dorothy,  instead  of  forcing  him  into  dissipation  and 
folly,  led  him  into  paths  of  domesticity,  study  and 
self-improvement,  and  that  though  she  might  be  a 
somewhat  expensive  treasure  she  curbed  prodigality 
to  any  dangerous  extent;  also,  that  his  conduct 
endeared  him  to  the  whole  neighbourhood  in  which  he 
lived.  Then  it  added  that  this  esteem — in  a  slightly 
lesser  degree — was  extended  to  Dorothy,  because  it 
was  known  that  she  could  not  possibly  be  more 
honourably  allied  to  Clarence  "without  breaking  the 
sacred  bar  of  an  Act  of  Parliament."  Yet,  after  all 
this  is  said,  the  Duke  was  constantly  in  debt,  and 
though  he  had  an  idea  that  to  have  his  income 
increased  by  half  would  mean  riches,  he  soon  dis- 
covered that  it  meant  little  but  the  opportunity  for  a 
little  more  indulgence,  and  a  great  deal  more  debt. 
However,  just  at  first  this  conjugal  pair  thought  they 
were  going  to  do  wonders^ 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year,  before  the  grant  was 
made,  Dorothy  was  quite  prepared  to  continue  her 
work,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  letter  written  in 
February  to  Bannister  the  younger,  who  had  had  an 
attack  of  gout — 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  been  prevented  by  constant  employ- 
ment   from  answering   your   obliging  notes.     I    am 


250     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

sincerely  sorry  for  your  confinement,  but  trust  it  will 
soon  end.  We  never  know  how  to  value  a  friend  and 
great  talents  sufficiently  till  we  are  deprived  of  them. 
We  have  been  long  enough  without  you  to  make  us 
subscribe  now  heartily  to  this  old  saying. 

'  The  three  tragedies  you  have  sent  me  I  have  read 
this  day,  and,  notwithstanding  there  is  much  pretty 
writing  in  the  part  you  mention,  I  do  not  think  I  could 
do  myself  or  the  author  any  service  by  undertaking  it. 
I  think  Mrs.  Siddons  would  do  great  justice  to  it.  I 
find  laughing  agrees  with  me  much  better  than  crying. 
Do  come  out  soon  and  re-establish  my  health — I  mean 
my  theatrical  health — which  without  you  is  certainly 
on  the  decline.  My  best  compliments  to  Mrs. 
Bannister  and  your  fair  daughters. 

:'  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  D.  JORDAN." 

But  though  Bannister  got  well  again  and  took  up 
his  duties  Dorothy  forgot  her  theatrical  health,  and 
went  no  more  on  the  stage,  it  being  probably  agreed 
that  now  she  could  afford  to  be  idle,  excepting  when 
she  gave  her  services,  as  on  February  12,  when  she 
took  prominent  parts  for  the  benefit  of  Tom  King's 
widow,  for  the  old  actor  had  not  long  survived  his 
retirement. 

The  company  gave  The  School  for  Scandal  and 
The  Fair  Circassian,  following  these  with  a  tableau 
named  "  Thalia's  Tears,"  showing  Parnassus  in  the 
background  with  Mrs.  Jordan  as  Thalia  sitting  upon 
a  pedestal  in  the  centre  weeping  over  Tom  King's  urn. 
On  each  side  stood  actors  dressed  in  the  most  admired 
of  the  old  man's  characters,  while  Thalia,  "  in  melli- 
fluous tones  and  feeling  energy  of  gesture,"  recorded 


Slings  and  Arrows  251 

King's  virtues,  after  which  lines  were  recited  by  the 
other  performers  and  a  dirge  was  sung  by  Braham, 
Kelly,  Storace  and  Mrs.  Bland. 

Now  we  come  to  an  incident  which  seems  to  point 
back  to  Dorothy's  past.  Boaden  and  the  author  of 
The  Great  Illegitimates  emphasize  the  belief  that,  but 
for  Ford  and  Clarence — Daly  can  scarcely  be  blamed 
to  her — her  life  had  been  spotless.  This  was  not 
altogether  the  general  opinion  in  the  first  year  of  her 
life  in  London,  when  a  report  arose  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  admiration  for  her,  which,  however,  was  con- 
tradicted by  the  observation  that  it  "  sprung  from 
cunning ;  it  was  the  puff  of  the  day  to  put  a  feather  in 
the  lady's  cap,  and  had  the  good  effect  of  advertising 
her  into  popularity." 

In  the  same  article  (in  The  Town  and  Country 
Magazine]  it  is  frankly  assumed  that  she  had  lovers  : 
"  Mrs.  Tomboy  has  always  been  prudent  in  her 
amours.  Her  present  favourite  (Ford)  is  not  the  choice 
of  love ;  his  proximity  to  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
theatre  secures  her  a  strong  interest  which  she  wisely 
considers  of  more  real  value  than  any  immediate 
pecuniary  advantage." 

From  this  it  might  be  gathered  that  Ford  was  not 
the  first  of  Dorothy's  town  lovers,  that  there  had  been 
one  other  at  least.  However,  if  so,  no  direct  evidence 
has  been  gathered  of  his  personality  or  position ;  there 
are,  however,  the  references  made  in  various  journals 
to  the  number  of  her  children  independent  of  the 
Fitzclarences.  Four,  said  The  Morning  Post,  in  1 792, 
four,  said  The  Fashionable  Cypriad  in  1798,  and  five, 
"one  of  whom  died,"  said  The  Great  Illegitimates. 
The  young  sister  who  was  educated  with  her  children 
by  Mr.  Lloyd  in  1798  is  another  curious  fact.  On  the 


252     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

other  hand,  only  the  three  girls  Frances,  Dorothea 
and  Lucy  are  mentioned  by  Boaden.  Now  Boaden 
knew  things  which  he  did  not  tell,  but  very  occasionally 
he  told  things  which  others  did  not  know,  and  thus  it 
is  he  who  seems  to  give  a  clue  to  the  mystery. 

In  1806  a  rumour  arose  that  Mrs.  Jordan's  daughter 
had  been  left  a  fortune  by  an  old  gentleman  on  con- 
dition that  she  took  the  name  of  Bettesworth.  No  one 
knew  much  about  this,  and  no  one  was  quite  clear  as 
to  the  condition;  one  said  that  the  money  had  been 
offered  to  Dorothy,  but  that  she  refused  to  change  her 
name,  and  her  eldest  daughter  was  suggested  as  a 
substitute;  others  that  it  had  been  bequeathed  direct 
to  the  girl.  No  one  is  sure  as  to  which  girl  benefited; 
private  letters  suggest  it  to  be  Dorothea  or  Lucy, 
and  some  newspapers  declare  it  to  be  Frances,  rest- 
ing that  belief  in  the  words  "  Mrs.  Jordan's  eldest 
daughter." 

There  is  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  there  was  money 
left  in  some  way,  for  early  in  1806  Dorothy  took  a 
house  on  Twickenham  Common,  known  then  as 
Gyfford  Lodge.  The  common  was  a  common  then, 
and  not  a  small  triangular  green.  Gyfford  Lodge — 
largely  rebuilt,  and  now  spelt  Gifford — still  stands,  its 
gardens  contracted,  and  surrounded  by  a  high  wall  in 
place  of  the  low  wooden  palings  of  a  century  ago. 
In  this  house  the  Marchioness  of  Tweeddale  had  died 
in  1788,  and  General  Gunning,  a  brother  of  the  second 
set  of  beautiful  Miss  Gunnings,  lived  there  for  a  time. 
It  was  let  to  Dorothy  for  ^50  a  year — equal,  per- 
haps, to  £150  at  the  present  day — but  in  1807  she 
got  it  reduced  to  £45,  the  rates  being — I  cannot  refrain 
from  saying  "  Happy  rate-payers  !  " — but  a  shilling  in 
the  pound. 


Slings  and  Arrows  253 

The  house  secured,  decorating  and  furnishing  must 
have  been  an  absorbing  matter,  and  then  on  July  12  a 
great  coming-out  or  coming-of-age  party  was  given  in 
it  by  Miss  Bettesworth.  And  as  Frances  had  come  out 
long  before,  and  had  come  of  age  to  a  fanfare  of 
trumpets  three  years  earlier,  when  she  was  settled  in 
Golden  Square,  she  may  be  ruled  out  of  the  matter, 
for  she  could  scarcely  have  repeated  the  process  in  a 
new  house,  among  the  old  friends.  Here  are  some 
of  the  contemporary  accounts  of  the  party.  The  Sun 
of  July  13  reported  that,  "Miss  Bettesworth,  Mrs. 
Jordan's  eldest  daughter,  gave  a  splendid  rural  fete 
on  Monday  last  at  Gyfford  Lodge,  Twickenham.  The 
grounds  were  decorated  with  great  taste,  splendour 
and  beauty,  but  the  weather  was  not  .very  favourable 
to  entertainments  out  of  doors.  The  whole  of  the 
house,  but  particularly  the  great  saloon,  was  adorned 
and  illumined  in  a  very  brilliant  and  elegant  manner; 
a  military  band  afforded  much  pleasure,  and  some 
rustic  sports  varied  and  enlivened  the  scene.  There 
was  a  magnificent  supper  about  twelve  o'clock  after 
dancing,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  presided  over  the  whole. 
The  Duke  of  Clarence  was,  of  course,  of  the  party, 
and  a  very  large  part  of  the  fashionable  circles  was 
present.  A  vast  crowd  from  neighbouring  villages 
assembled  round  the  mansion  and  gardens,  and  were 
happy  spectators  of  this  superb  and  beautiful  scene  of 
rural  festivity." 

A  further  paragraph  added  that  Miss  Bettesworth 
assumed  that  name  on  account  of  considerable  pro- 
perty which  had  been  bequeathed  her  on  that  con- 
dition, and  described  her  as  "a  very  amiable  and 
accomplished  young  lady." 

The  Morning  Post  of  Monday,  July  14,  notices  that 


254     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

to  the  fete  six  hundred  guests  were  invited,  including 
the  Dowager  Countess  of  Buckinghamshire  (Mrs. 
Hobart  of  the  letter)  and  the  Earl  of  Massereene,  that 
the  breakfast  was  given  at  4.30  in  four  tents  on  the 
lawn,  and  that  ten  thousand  people  from  the  country- 
side stood  round  the  railings  to  see  the  favourite 
actress  entertaining  her  friends. 

One  daily  paper  announced  in  its  theatrical  gossip 
that  at  Richmond,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  rain,  a 
grand  fete  champetre  was  given  by  Mrs.  Jordan  on 
the  coming-of-age  of  her  eldest  daughter. 

It  was,  however,  Boaden's  paper,  The  Daily 
Advertiser  and  Oracle,  which  gave  a  remarkable  note 
to  the  affair :  "  The  father  of  Miss  Bettesworth,  Mrs. 
Jordan's  eldest  daughter,  died  not  long  ago,  and  has 
left  the  young  lady  a  very  handsome  fortune ;  it  is  not 
flattery  to  say  he  has  not  bequeathed  her  more  than 
she  deserves,  for  she  is  a  very  amiable  young  woman 
and  no  '  spoilt  child.'  *  Of  this  matter  the  writer  of 
The  Great  Illegitimates  knew  little,  and  simply 
reported  that  it  was  said  "that  an  elderly  gentleman 
named  Bettesworth  at  this  juncture  tendered  Mrs. 
Jordan  a  very  ample  fortune  in  the  event  of  her  taking 
his  name,  and  becoming  his  representative." 

Boaden,  the  only  other  important  chronicler  of 
Dorothy's  life,  concealed  his  knowledge  under,  "  I 
understand  some  old  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Bettes- 
worth offered  Mrs.  Jordan  a  very  handsome  fortune 
to  take  his  name  and  become  his  representative.'* 

Search  has  revealed  no  Bettesworth  will  or  deed 
bequeathing  money  to  any  of  the  Jordans;  it  has,  how- 
ever, shown  that  on  November  27,  1805,  there  died  at 
Swanmere  House,  near  Salisbury,  William  Augustus 
Bettesworth,  aged  70,  formerly  Judge  Advocate  of 


Slings  and  Arrows  255 

his  Majesty's  Fleet  and  many  years  an  eminent 
attorney  at  Portsea.  This  gentleman  had  no  children ; 
his  will  was  somewhat  curious,  too,  for  though  in  it  he 
leaves  to  his  mother,  wife  and  brother  a  great  quantity 
of  landed  property,  no  money  at  all  is  mentioned, 
which  leads  to  the  natural  supposition  that  he  had 
already  disposed  of  his  money. 

There  is  no  proof  in  this  that  he  was  once  connected 
with  Mrs.  Jordan,  but  the  date  of  his  death  was  just 
at  the  right  period,  and  the  affair  must  be  left  at  that. 

The  curious  point  is  that  Miss  Bettesworth  disap- 
pears entirely  from  the  story  after  this,  only  the  three 
girls  known  as  Jordan,  both  before  and  after  the  event, 
being  mentioned  in  Boaden's  Life;  thus  that  eldest 
girl,  said  to  have  been  named  Hester  and  generally 
regarded  as  a  Ford  daughter,  probably  took  her 
money  with  her  name,  and  was  henceforth  little 
involved  in  the  fortunes  of  her  mother's  family. 

Frances  was  occupying  the  house  in  Golden  Square 
for  several  years,  which  is  proved  by  an  undated  letter 
written  by  Dorothy  on  paper  made  in  1805  concerning 
a  dispute  about  a  harp. 

"  Mrs.  Jordan's  compliments  to  Mr.  Hyde,  she  was 
very  sorry  she  was  not  at  home  when  he  called  in 
Golden  Square,  as  she  wished  to  come  to  some  settle- 
ment with  regard  to  the  harp  she  was  to  receive  as  a 
remuneration  for  a  song  she  gave  him  permission  to 
print  on  these  terms,  she  has  before  acquainted  Mr. 
Hyde  that  the  instrument  was  so  very  bad  that  she 
never  could  make  use  of  it  in  consequence  of  its 
having  been  of  unseasoned  wood;  the  first  week  she 
had  it  it  burst,  even  the  brass  that  was  connected  with 
the  machinery,  and  has  remained  in  that  state  ever 


256     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

since,  as  every  workman  she  applied  to  mend  it 
declared  that  it  was  never  good  for  anything.  Mrs. 
Jordan  is  fearful  that  this  statement,  that  has  been  laid 
before  Mr.  Hyde  two  or  three  times,  has  escaped  his 
recollection,  for  she  is  certain  that  when  she  gave  the 
preference  to  his  house  he  meant  to  have  given  her  a 
good  instrument,  and  so  far  a  return  for  a  song  which 
was  very  popular  and  consequently  very  profitable, 
and  for  which  she  could  have  been  very  handsomely 
paid.  Mrs.  Jordan  requests  he  will  take  this  into 
consideration,  and  she  makes  no  doubt  of  the  result 
being  perfectly  satisfactory  to  her." 

The  Bettesworth  party  was  not  the  only  one  which 
made  a  sensation  this  summer  in  social  circles,  for 
when  the  Duke  of  Clarence  attained  his  forty-first  year 
in  August  he,  too,  gave  a  party.  He  had  done  the 
same  before  without  attracting  notoriety,  but  unfor- 
tunately for  his  peace  of  mind  much  advertisement 
was  given  to  it  this  year,  probably  through  Dorothy's 
own  thoughtless  agency  in  allowing  such  full  reports 
to  appear  in  the  papers.  These  passed  for  the  moment 
without  criticism;  but  William  Cobbett  was  editor  of 
The  Political  Register,  a  man  whose  soul  was  burning 
within  him  at  the  hardships  of  the  poor,  and  who  had 
been  deeply  influenced  by  the  French  Revolution. 
He  had  no  love  for  princes,  and  the  lives  of  the  King's 
sons  were  scarcely  likely  to  give  him  any  respect  for 
them;  he  had  also  been  keenly  opposed  to  the  grant 
to  Clarence.  So  in  September  1806  he  reprinted  the 
report  of  the  August  birthday  party,  adding  to  it  a 
bitter  and  contemptuous  criticism.  He  was  a  j ournalist 
as  well  as  a  reformer,  and  if  he  could  have  eliminated 
from  his  attack  the  trick  of  exaggeration  and  false 


Slings  and  Arrows  257 

conclusion  his  article  would  have  been  more  crushing. 
As  it  was,  it  was  more  likely  to  provoke  anger  than 
anything  else.  The  report  is  as  follows — 

"The  Duke  of  Clarence's  birthday  was  celebrated 
with  much  splendour  in  Bushy  Park  on  Thursday. 
The  grand  hall  was  entirely  new  fitted  up  with  bronze 
pilasters  and  various  marble  imitations;  the  ceiling 
very  correctly  clouded,  and  the  whole  illuminated  with 
some  brilliant  patent  lamps,  suspended  from  a  beauti- 
ful eagle.  The  dining-room  in  the  right  wing  was 
fitted  up  in  a  modern  style  with  new  elegant  lamps  at 
the  different  entrances.  The  pleasure  ground  was  dis- 
posed for  the  occasion,  and  the  servants  had  new 
liveries.  In  the  morning  the  Dukes  of  York's  and 
Kent's  bands  arrived  in  caravans ;  after  dressing  them- 
selves and  dining,  they  went  into  the  pleasure  grounds 
and  played  alternately  some  charming  pieces.  The 
Duke  of  Kent's  played  some  of  the  choruses  and 
movements  from  Haydn's  Oratorio  of  the  Creation, 
arranged  by  command  of  his  Royal  Highness  for  a 
band  of  wind  instruments.  About  five  o'clock  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  the  Dukes  of  York,  Kent,  Sussex 
and  Cambridge,  Colonel  Paget,  etc.,  arrived  from 
reviewing  the  German  Legion.  After  they  had 
dressed  for  dinner  they  walked  in  the  pleasure 
grounds,  accompanied  by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Earl 
and  Countess  of  Athlone  and  daughter,  Lord  Lei- 
cester, Baron  Hotham  and  Lady,  Baron  Eden,  the 
Attorney  General,  Colonels  Paget  and  M'Mahon, 
Serjeant  Marshall,  and  a  number  of  other  persons.  At 
seven  o'clock  the  second  bell  announced  the  dinner, 
when  the  Prince  took  Mrs.  Jordan  by  the  hand,  led  her 
into  the  dining-room,  and  seated  her  at  the  head  of 
the  table.  The  Prince  took  his  seat  at  her  right  hand, 


258     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  the  Duke  of  York  at  her  left;  the  Duke  of  Cam- 
bridge sat  next  to  the  Prince,  the  Duke  of  Kent  next 
to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  next 
to  his  Royal  Highness.  The  Duke  of  Clarence  sat 
at  the  foot  of  the  table.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
the  table  was  sumptuously  covered  with  everything 
the  season  could  afford.  The  bands  played  on  the  lawn, 
close  to  the  dining-room  window.  The  populace 
were  permitted  to  enter  the  pleasure  grounds  to  behold 
the  Royal  Banquet  [all  of  whom  partook  of  the  royal 
bounty,  says  another  report],  while  the  presence  of 
Messrs.  Townsend,  Sayers  and  Macmanus,  preserved 
the  correct  decorum.  The  Duke's  numerous  family 
were  introduced  and  admired  by  the  Prince,  the  Royal 
Dukes  and  the  whole  company;  an  infant  in  arms, 
with  a  most  beautiful  white  head  of  hair,  was  brought 
into  the  dining-room  by  the  nursery  maid.  After  dinner 
the  Prince  gave  '  the  Duke  of  Clarence,'  which  was 
drunk  with  three  times  three;  the  Duke  then  gave 
'  The  King,'  which  was  drunk  in  a  solemn  manner.  A 
discharge  of  cannon  from  the  lawn  followed  '  The 
Queen  and  the  Princesses,'  '  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
Army.'  His  Royal  Highness's  band  then  struck  up 
his  celebrated  march." 

The  white-haired  boy  would  have  been  Augustus. 
As  to  the  cannon  which  were  fired  so  joyfully,  they 
are  still  at  Bushy  House  guarding  the  main  entrance. 
But  before  Mr.  Glazebrook  took  his  wonderful 
Laboratory  there  they  served  a  very  undignified  but 
useful  purpose,  their  ends  being  embedded  deeply  at 
either  side  of  the  front  door,  and  lamps  fixed  into  their 
yawning  mouths.  To  return  to  Cobbett's  criticism — 

He  began  by  pretending  that  the  whole  story  was  a 
lie,  it  being  reprinted  by  him  solely  that  the  Duke 


Slings  and  Arrows  259 

might  deny  it  publicly.  Then  the  Duke  of  York's 
marches  came  in  for  pointed  satire,  for  it  was  barely 
half-a-dozen  years  since  he  had  been  obliged  to  march 
out  of  Belgium.  But  Cobbett  reserved  his  fury  of 
contempt  for  the  musical  incident— 

'  The  representing  of  the  oratorio  of  The  Creation, 
and  arranged  by  the  Duke  of  Kent,  too,  applied  to  the 
purpose  of  ushering  in  the  numerous  family  of  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  thus  representing  the  Duke  of 
Kent  as  employed  in  an  act  whereby  the  procreation 
of  a  brood  of  illegitimate  children  is  put  in  comparison 
with  the  great  work  of  the  Almighty  is,  in  this  writer's 
opinion,  an  act  of  the  most  insidious  disloyalty,  and 
of  blasphemy  the  most  daring." 

Now  the  playing  of  the  selections  took  place  in  the 
afternoon  and  in  the  garden,  while  the  babies  were 
not  introduced  to  the  dining  guests  until  after  seven 
in  the  evening ;  thus  in  the  minds  of  the  arrangers  of 
the  fete  the  two  events  were  in  no  ways  connected, 
and  neither  blasphemy  nor  insidious  disloyalty  ex- 
isted save  in  Cobbett's  somewhat  crooked  reasoning. 
Would  God—  " whatever  God  there  be" — consider  a 
lusty  young  family  such  as  Dorothy's  something  to  be 
despised,  even  though  certain  formulas  had  not  been 
uttered  over  the  parents?  A  marriage  ceremony  is  a 
protective  rite,  invented  by  society;  children  are  a 
work  of  nature  and — it  may  be — therefore  the  most 
important  part  of  the  affair  in  the  "eyes  of  the 
Creator. 

Cobbett  proceeded  that  it  was  foully  to  slander  his 
Royal  Highness  to  declare  that  he  had  been  guilty 
of  the  crime  of  bringing  bastards  into  the  world;  and 
then  turned  his  attention  upon  Dorothy.  While 
speaking  of  the  Duke  he  had  retained  a  mock  respect- 


ful  air,  but  as  soon  as  he  spoke  of  her  he  fell  into 
vulgarity;  for  humanist  as  he  was,  he  evidently  held 
that  the  sin  of  the  man  who  sins  is  venial  compared 
with  the  equal  sin  of  the  woman.  He  said — 

"  This  representation  and  accusation  I  must  and  do 
find  false  (that  this  dinner  was  held),  and  I  am  con- 
firmed in  this  my  opinion,  when  I  hear  the  same  writer 
assert  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  took  Mother  Jordan 
by  the  hand  and,  in  the  presence  of  a  Countess,  a 
Countess's  daughter  and  a  Baroness,  seated  her  at  the 
head  of  the  table,  taking  his  place  upon  her  right  hand, 
his  royal  brothers  arranging  themselves,  according  to 
their  rank  on  both  sides  of  the  table,  the  post  of  honour 
being  nearest  Mother  Jordan,  who,  the  last  time  I  saw 
her,  cost  me  eighteen  pence  in  her  character  of  Nell 
Jobson." 

If  the  articles  in  The  Bon  Ton,  Town  and  Country 
and  kindred  magazines  may  be  credited,  there  were 
many  high-born  ladies  at  the  period,  who  were  wives 
and  mothers  and  yet  notorious  for  the  looseness  of 
their  morals,  and  compared  with  whom  Dorothy  was 
a  good  and  respectable  woman,  yet  they  went  free  of 
the  reformer's  biting  words ;  but,  then,  an  actress  was 
but  a  vagabond,  after  all,  and,  as  Dorothy  often 
proved,  could  be  thrashed  with  impunity  for  the  sins 
of  the  world. 

Twenty-six  years  later,  in  1832,  when  the  Reform 
Bill  was  agitating  all  politicians,  and  a  multitude  of 
people  who  were  no  politicians,  Cobbett  reprinted  this 
article  as  an  attack  upon  the  Earl  of  Munster, 
Dorothy's  eldest  son,  who  was  accused  of  influencing 
the  King  against  reform;  and  the  article  was  then 
headed  The  Fitzjordans,  part  of  the  introductory 
paragraph  being  :  "  Twenty-six  years  ago,  when  these 


Slings  and  Arrows  261 

people  were  babies,  I  foresaw  the  consequences  that 
might  arise  from  their  existence." 

Never  again  was  there  any  public  advertisement 
made  of  Dorothy's  festivities  at  Bushy  House,  and 
when  the  Duke's  birthdays  came  round  only  the  names 
of  men  were  reported  as  present. 

But  if  purists  were  concerned  in  throwing  odium 
upon  Dorothy's  name,  there  were  many  needy  people 
who  were  ready  to  bless  her.  Pierce  Egan,  in  his 
entertaining  book,  The  Life  of  an  Actor,  gives  a  story 
which  proves  this.  Strolling  players  attended  at  fairs 
to  make  their  harvest,  often  a  poor  enough  one;  and 
Egan  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  company  to 
Twickenham  Fair.  In  1807  he  determined  to  have 
one  night  extra — a  private  night  he  calls  it — after  the 
fair  closed;  so  he  sent  out  bills  announcing  Douglas, 
and  The  Miller  of  Mansfield.  The  performance  was 
to  be  given  on  their  temporary  stage  on  Twickenham 
Common,  nearly  two  miles  from  Richmond  Theatre, 
at  which  Messrs.  Copeland  and  Russell's  company 
was  acting.  It  was  customary  with  Egan  to  invite  his 
people  to  a  picnic  on  Eelpie  Island  the  day  after  the 
fair,  so  they  were  all  gathered  there  eating  eel  pies 
and  drinking  ale  and  "  as  merry  as  could  be,"  when 
a  note  was  brought  to  them  from  the  Richmond 
managers,  saying  that  a  benefit  was  taking  place  that 
night  at  their  theatre,  and  if  Egan  dared  to  perform 
they  would  apply  to  a  magistrate  and  have  the  whole 
company  locked  up. 

The  laws  concerning  theatres  were  stringent,  and 
yet  more  honoured  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observ- 
ance ;  but  they  could  be  put  into  force  both  easily  and 
cruelly.  The  players  at  a  fair  were  frankly  vagabonds 
and,  according  to  law,  in  their  right  place ;  but  as  soon 


262     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

as  they  began  to  act  independently  they — like  dust — 
were  but  matter  in  the  wrong  place,  something  to  be 
removed.  Thus  this  threat  was  a  serious  thing;  yet 
Egan,  well  warmed  with  ale,  only  laughed  and 
returned  answer  that  if  he  were  taken  up,  it  should  be 
by  the  authority  of  a  magistrate  and  not  by  two 
vagrants  like  himself.  However,  he  had  not  drunk 
too  much  to  have  his  wits  about  him,  and  he  went  off 
at  once  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  "that  justly  celebrated  and 
much  lamented  actress,"  who  was  then  at  Gyfford 
Lodge.  She  heard  his  story,  and  could  scarcely 
believe  that  Copeland  and  Russell  would  be  guilty 
of  such  meanness,  yet  as  she  knew  the  handwriting 
well  she  promised  to  use  her  influence,  and  advised 
Egan  to  go  back  to  his  company  and  perform  without 
any  fear.  She  also  promised  to  make  up  a  party,  and 
if  she  could  not  come  herself,  to  send  some  of  her 
children.  She  kept  her  word,  and  the  evening  passed 
successfully  and  without  mishap,  though  the  next  morn- 
ing Copeland  and  Russell  tried  to  retaliate  by  engag- 
ing Egan's  chief  actor,  who,  however,  loyally  refused 
to  leave  his  company  until  the  end  of  the  season. 

The  following  undated  letter  to  some  journalist 
will  also  serve  to  show  how  keen  were  Dorothy's 
sympathies,  and  how  ready  she  was  to  do  good  in 
secret  fashion. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Perhaps  the  same  pen  which  so  feelingly 
described  the  distress  of  an  unfortunate  family  would, 
on  perusal  of  the  enclosed,  exert  itself  once  more,  in 
the  same  way,  and  through  the  same  channel.  I  will 
pay  for  the  articles,  and  should  be  happy  if  by 
this  means  and  my  own  exertions  I  could  be  enabled 


Slings  and  Arrows  263 

to  get  a  few  pounds  for  this  unhappy  writer,  whose 
situation  I  know  to  be  exactly  what  is  described.  I 
will  not  run  the  risk  of  offending  you  by  apologies,  the 
motive  will,  I  am  sure,  be  sufficient  to  procure  me 
pardon.  I  will  send  you,  if  requisite,  respectable 
references. 

'  Yours  obliged  and  sincerely, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

Through  the  autumn  of  1806  Clarence  and  Dorothy 
kept  to  their  decision  that  there  should  be  no  more 
acting,  and  on  March  20,  1807,  their  last  child,  Amelia, 
was  born.  But  in  the  spring  of  that  year  she  was  on 
the  stage  occasionally  if  not  constantly ;  for  in  January 
she  was  in  a  new  play,  Something  to  Do,  which  was  a 
failure,  and  in  April  she  was  again  Widow  Cheerly  in 
The  Soldier's  Daughter;  but  she  did  not  take  seriously 
to  it  again  until  September,  when  the  need  for  money 
had  once  more  become  pressing. 

That  the  elder  girls  did  not  marry  was  a  great 
disappointment.  Frances,  plain,  giddy  and  unintel- 
lectual,  was  a  difficult  problem  for  the  mother  who 
loved  her  children  so  deeply  that  she  was  prepared  to 
make  any  sacrifice  for  them,  and  who  feared  that  if 
she  died  they  would  be  penniless.  This,  of  course, 
should  not  have  been,  for  earlier  in  her  career  she  had 
saved  money  with  the  express  intention,  it  was  said, 
of  dowering  these  girls.  But  since  then  all  her  earn- 
ings had  been  spent  and  her  savings  lent,  and  though 
her  income  was  very  much  smaller  than  the  Duke's,  it 
is  doubtless  true  that  he  had  had  as  much  advantage 
of  it  as  she. 

A  further  source  of  trouble  was  her  increasing  tend- 
ency to  stoutness,  for  she  felt  that  the  particular  parts 


264     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

in  which  she  was  strongest  would  suffer  from  such  a 
physical  defect,  and  she  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
reduce  her  size.  So  when  she  began  work  again  in 
September  it  was  noticed  that  she  was  thinner,  but 
The  Satirist  deprecated  the  fact  on  the  plea  that 
"where  violent,  artificial  modes  are  adopted  to 
diminish  bulk  the  countenance  is  the  sufferer ;  so  with 
Mrs.  Jordan,  she  does  not  look  so  well  in  the  face  as 
we  have  seen  her,  but  by  dint  of  exercise  the  tout 
ensemble  is  so  far  reduced  as  to  make  the  boy's  dis- 
guise not  quite  unnatural.  She  played  it  as  usual 
with  the  greatest  spirit,  and  was  greeted  with  warm 
applause." 

Through  the  following  years  many  were  the  com- 
ments made  upon  Dorothy's  size,  yet  it  could  not  have 
been  so  extraordinary,  for  in  1813,  when  she  was  sup- 
posed to  be  enormous,  Leslie  the  artist  wrote,  on 
seeing  her  in  As  You  Like  It,  "  I  had  been  taught 
to  expect  an  immensely  fat  woman,  and  she  is  but 
moderately  so.  Her  face  is  still  very  fine;  no  print 
that  I  ever  saw  of  her  is  much  like.  Her  performance 
of  Rosalind  was,  in  my  mind  perfect,  though  I  am 
convinced  the  character  from  its  nature  did  not  call 
forth  half  Mrs.  Jordan's  powers." 

Having  started  work  in  earnest  Dorothy  was  in  the 
theatre  several  times  a  week,  and  then  came  a  sudden 
break.  On  Saturday,  October  12,  she  was  playing  in 
the  Wedding  Day,  and  though  feeling  ill  herself  she 
had  dragged  Mathews  through  his  part,  for  he  "  played 
like  a  man  dreaming  of  something  he  did  not  like : 
like  a  canary  bird  singing  in  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's, 
so  faint  that  he  could  not  be  understood."  Dorothy 
was  loudly  encored  in  her  song  of  "  In  the  Dead  of 
Night,"  and  sang  it  through  twice  "  as  exquisitely  as 


Slings  and  Arrows  265 

ever."  "  Before  she  had  finished,"  said  The  Courier, 
"she  was  affected  by  a  severe  pain  between  the 
shoulders,  which  struck  into  her  chest,  and  only  her 
great  spirits  and  firmness  could  have  made  her  finish 
the  play.  Early  on  the  Sunday  morning,  after  cough- 
ing, a  considerable  quantity  of  blood  came  from  her 
chest,  and  it  was  evident  that  she  had  broken  a  blood 
vessel.  Dr.  Blane  took  twelve  ounces  of  blood  from 
her  arm  by  lancet  and  eight  ounces  by  cupping,  thus 
relieving  the  pain,  but  reducing  her  so  low  that  she  is 
forbidden  to  take  anything  but  cold  water."  On  the 
Monday  she  was  much  better,  though  the  pain  was 
still  severe,  and  she  was — somewhat  naturally  seeing 
the  remedy  employed — very  weak.  Those  who  had 
hoped  to  see  her  as  Peggy  that  night  were  disap- 
pointed, and  for  ten  days  she  did  not  appear. 

The  Duke  was  staying  at  Houghton  Hall,  Norfolk, 
and  seems  not  to  have  hastened  his  return  unduly,  for 
he  did  not  arrive  at  St.  James's  until  the  following 
Saturday.  Then  he  stayed  only  long  enough  to 
change  horses  before  setting  out  for  Bushy  Park. 
Dorothy  went  for  a  short  drive  on  the  Friday,  and  on 
the  Tuesday,  much  too  soon,  returned  to  the  theatre, 
having  denied  that  a  ruptured  blood  vessel  was  the 
cause  of  her  illness.  She  showed  great  languor  on 
her  appearance,  but  gradually  recovering  her  spirits 
she  seemed  in  her  usual  health  before  the  end  of  the 
evening.  The  next  Saturday  she  played  Lady  Racket 
in  Three  Weeks  After  Marriage  to  a  house  which  was 
said  to  have  scarcely  a  person  of  rank  or  fortune 
absent,  and  at  its  close  she  got  into  her  carriage, 
having  arranged  to  drive  straight  back  to  Bushy 
House  with  the  Duke.  But  pain  in  her  chest  again  be- 
came acute,  and  she  went  instead  to  her  town  home  in 


266     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Mortimer  Street  (for  she  had  by  then  left  Somerset 
Street)  and  to  bed,  suffering  from  a  return  of  the 
inflammation.  The  Duke  also  stayed  in  town,  and 
she  being  better  on  the  Monday,  he  took  her  home 
with  him.  Again  it  was  denied  that  this  new  indis- 
position was  a  relapse,  and  these  denials  of  the  serious- 
ness of  her  illnesses  indicate  that  Dorothy  was  afraid 
of  being  regarded  as  weakly,  afraid  that  any  strong 
impression  should  get  abroad  that  her  physical  powers 
were  declining;  in  fact,  it  hinted  at  some  desperate 
need  for  her  to  keep  her  place  in  her  profession.  In 
any  case  so  keen  was  she  to  make  money  that  she  was 
on  the  boards  again  in  seven  days,  and  from  that  time 
was  acting  all  through  the  winter. 

There  was  some  reason  for  her  fear  of  finding  her- 
self put  upon  the  shelf,  for  many  were  the  hints  that 
the  public  would  soon  lose  her,  thus  The  Monthly 
Mirror,  declaring  that  her  appearance  proclaimed  her 
the  genuine  offspring  of  Sir  Tunbelly  Clumsy,  went 
on  to  say — 

"  In  her  undress,  when  skipping  and  turning  round, 
with  her  hand  on  her  heart  and  exposing  her  shape, 
'  if  shape  it  might  be  called  that  shape  had  none/  we 
really  beheld  her  with  more  pain  than  pleasure.  This 
sensation  probably  arose  from  a  fear  that  the  hour  is 
not  far  distant  when  she  will  be  compelled  to  relinquish 
altogether  this,  her  inimitable  line." 

But  whatever  might  be  said  about  her  size,  there 
were  no  murmurs  about  her  singing,  and  she  captivated 
the  audience  with  "  Drink  to  Me  only  with  Thine 
Eyes  "  and  "  A  Shepherd  Once  had  Lost  His  Love." 

From  the  middle  of  December  she  had  two  or  three 
weeks'  holiday,  spending  Christmas  with  most  of  her 
children,  while  the  Duke  went  on  a  visit  to  Berkeley 


Slings  and  Arrows  267 

Castle,  taking  with  him  George  and  Sophia.  On  their 
way  back  they  stayed  for  two  days  at  Buscot  Park  in 
Berkshire,  and  arrived  home  about  January  15.  This 
is  but  one  evidence  that  far  from  repudiating  his 
children,  as  Cobbett  suggested,  the  Duke  was 
thoroughly  proud  of  them,  and  often  took  them  about 
with  him.  Mrs.  Calvert  noted  in  her  diary  for  i8o4,x 
"  that  the  Duke  went  to  the  Pavilion  for  the  Prince's 
birthday  and  had  two  natural  children  with  him — fine 
boys.  Mrs.  Jordan  is  the  mother."  A  year  or  two 
later  she  speaks  of  meeting  the  Duke  and  his  eldest 
daughter  out  at  dinner. 

Clarence  was  already  making  plans  for  his 
children's  careers,  though  there  are  indications  that 
Dorothy's  solicitude  for  her  elder  and  less  fortunate 
children  somewhat  irked  him.  The  Hanoverian  boy 
who  had  claimed  his  parentage  in  1790  had  been 
placed  in  the  Navy,  and  was  under  the  command  of 
Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Troubridge  upon  the  Blenheim, 
a  worn-out  ship,  which  was,  however,  thought  good 
enough  for  the  Commander  of  the  East  Indian  Seas, 
and  which  foundered  in  a  cyclone  off  Madagascar  in 
1807  with  all  lives  lost.  William  wrote  to  Admiral 
Collingwood  in  May  1808  :  "Though  I  have  lost  one 
son  on  board  the  Blenheim,  I  have  just  started  another 
with  my  old  friend  and  shipmate  Keates,  and  I  have 
another  breeding  up  for  the  quarter-deck.  ...  I  took 
my  second  son  to  Deal,  which  gave  me  an  opportunity 
of  visiting  the  different  ships  there." 

This  second  son,  who  was  started  off  from  Deal  to 
join  Keates,  was  Henry,  who  began  life  on  board, 
though  he  later  became  a  soldier.  Augustus  also 
began  in  the  Navy,  only  to  end  as  a  "  fisher  of  men," 

1  An  Irish  Beauty  of  the  Regency,  by  Mrs.  Warenne  Blake. 


268     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

but  Adolphus  was  probably  the  one  who  was  breeding 
up  for  the  quarter-deck.  The  eldest  boy,  George, 
became  a  Cornet  in  1807,  and  in  October  1808  his 
fond  father  took  him  to  Portsmouth,  where  he  em- 
barked with  his  regiment,  the  loth  Dragoons,  for 
Spain.  There  at  Corunna  he  became  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Slade,  and  in  1809-11  he  was  in  the  Penin- 
sula with  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  Wellington's 
Adj  utant-General . 


CHAPTER   XV 

DAME   GOSSIP   AND   DOROTHY 

"  Oh,  that  this  too,  too  solid  flesh  would  melt ! "— Hamlet. 
"  It's  well  I  have  a  husband  a-coming,  or  i'  cod,  I'd  marry  the  baker, 
I  wou'd  so!"— Miss  HOYDEN. 

DOROTHY'S  work  in  1808  began  on  January  8  with 
The  Country  Girl,  and  scattered  through  books  and 
papers  are  many  indications  of  her  acting,  her  health, 
her  dress, "  blue  and  silver,  very  pretty  and  becoming," 
her  popularity  and  her  weak  points.  "  On  Monday  we 
were  charmed  at  Drury  Lane  with  Mrs.  Jordan  in 
Three  Weeks  after  Marriage.  I  admire  her  so  much 
I  could  forgive  the  Duke  of  Clarence  anything,"  wrote 
Marianne  Stanhope.1  In  January  Miss  Berry  noted 
in  her  diary  :  "  Mrs.  Jordan  bringing  out  too  often  her 
oyster  woman  notes  in  Violante,  which  destroys  all  the 
effect  of  her  otherwise  captivating  singing."  And  the 
succeeding  month  the  same  playgoer  recorded  that 
"  her  Nell  is  incomparable,  but  she  was  not  in  high 
spirits." 

"  Public  love  in  this  instance  is  staunch,  and  Miss 
Peggy,  on  the  verge  of  fifty,  is  still  able  to  give  the 
play  an  irresistible  charm,"  said  another  critic.  Even 
the  papers  which  commented  most  on  Dorothy's  size 
always  salved  their  criticisms  with  affectionate  praise. 
On  May  26,  for  instance,  when  she  played  for  Miss 
Pope's  farewell  benefit,  The  Theatrical  Inquisitor  re- 
marked, "  This  great  actress  should  take  a  hint  from 
the  race  so  judiciously  run  by  Miss  Pope  and  begin  to 

1  Letter-bag  of  Lady  Elizabeth  Spencer  Stanhope.    By  A.  M.  W.  Stirling. 

269 


270     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

think  of  suiting  her  characters  to  her  form  and  age — 
the  converse  is  a  dangerous  trial.  She  has  outgrown 
her  frocks!  " 

Another  journal,  criticizing  her  performance  in  June, 
was  somewhat  muddled  in  style  and  not  quite  so  kind 
in  the  following  paragraph  :  "  Mrs.  Jordan's  Viola  and 
Beatrice  were,  as  usual,  full  of  the  delices  of  genuine 
acting.  Her  dress  in  Viola  cannot  be  described — it 
need  only  to  be  seen  to  be  felt.  Her  white  breeches 
(small-clothes  it  would  be  unjust  to  call  them)  and 
white  jacket,  which,  through  a  red  net  in  which  she 
was  caught,  looked  behind  like  the  tail  of  a  short  skirt, 
were  very  affecting  to  the  whole  house." 

And  in  September  we  read  that  she  strongly  exhibits 
the  superiority  of  mind  over  matter,  "  for  she  no  sooner 
opens  her  mouth  and  displays  her  genius  than  you 
forget  the  mortal  incumbrances.  Such  intellectual 
powers  compensate  for  her  form — it  is  as  broad  as  it  is 
long."  But  Dorothy,  feeling  that  her  best  powers  were 
shown  in  her  early  and  most  popular  characters,  could 
never  be  induced  to  alter  either  the  characters  or  their 
dresses. 

On  April  u,  1808,  Dorothy  began  a  series  of 
yearly  visits  to  Bath  which  were  always  successful, 
acting  until  May  2.  In  one  letter  to  the  Duke  from 
that  town  she  wrote  :  "  I  should  be  sorry  to  be  obliged 
to  give  up  Bath  for  various  reasons.  I  shall  be  glad 
when  Thursday  is  over.  I  am  very  fickle  on  these 
occasions,  and  always  grow  tired  of  the  audience  before 
they  seem  to  weary  of  me.  Great  crowds  are  expected 
at  the  theatre  to-morrow — my  night,  and,  thank  God, 
the  last  night  but  one.  On  Thursday  I  finish  with  The 
Country  Girl.  We  are  to  have  a  very  grand  dinner  at 
Canons,  and  it  would  make  you  laugh  to  hear  the 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     271 

manoeuvring  there  has  been  by  several  people  to  get 
invited." 

After  this  she  was  again  at  Drury  Lane,  the  season 
closing  in  June,  but  on  the  last  night  Dorothy  was  away 
because  of  illness,  and  all  through  the  remainder  of  the 
year  she  had  attacks  of  illness  which  constantly  inter- 
fered with  her  work.  Thus,  early  in  August  she  was 
ill,  but  by  the  24th  was  well  enough  to  delight  all  the 
fashionables  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Richmond,  who 
made  a  "  splendid  overflow "  to  witness  her  Belinda 
in  All  in  the  Wrong.  The  Duke  of  Clarence,  too,  was 
ill  with  gout,  which  Dorothy  described  as  "  the  old 
periodical  attack." 

This  summer  Frederick  Jones — who,  with  Lord 
Westmeath,  had  started  the  "gentleman's  theatre" 
about  ten  years  earlier  in  Dublin,  in  rivalry  with  Daly 
— was  in  London  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  Drury 
Lane  (a  bargain  which  was  never  completed),  and 
he  was  in  and  out  of  the  theatre  for  a  month.  It 
may  have  been  then  that  he  persuaded  Mrs.  Jordan 
to  engage  herself  to  Dublin  for  the  summer  of 
1809,  an  engagement  from  which  both  hoped  to  profit 
materially. 

In  September,  with  renovated  health  and  spirits,  she 
started  again  at  Drury  Lane,  where  Tom  Sheridan 
was  now  manager,  and  Wroughton  deputy.  But  in 
October  illness  claimed  her,  and  her  absence  was 
lamented  in  November,  as  the  new  comedy,  The 
Chances,  required  all  her  vivacity  to  give  life  to  a  tame 
and  insipid  piece. 

It  was  not  until  the  28th  of  December  that  she  really 
began  a  long  spell  of  acting.  Yet,  though  at  work, 
she  managed  to  take  her  children  to  the  pantomime, 
writing  to  the  Duke,  who  was  absent,  that  "  The  boys 


272     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

were  delighted  with  Robinson  Crusoe.  I  think  it  was 
tolerably  well  got  up.  The  house  was  very  full  last 
night;  the  new  comedy  does  not  come  out  till  Thurs- 
day." This  comedy  was  Man  and  Wife,  written  by 
S.  J.  Arnold  and  put  on  on  January  5,  1809 ;  in  this  she 
took  the  part  of  Helen  Worry,  and  successfully  kept 
a  poor  play  going  for  twenty  nights.  On  the  2ist  of 
February  she  was  acting,  and  the  next  night  the  swan 
song  of  Drury  Lane  was  sung  in  an  opera,  The  Cir- 
cassian Bride,  the  theatre  being  totally  destroyed  by 
fire  on  the  24th. 

It  may  well  be  asked  why  Dorothy  was  so  feverishly 
anxious  for  work,  and  the  only  answer  can  be  that  it 
was  for  her  daughter's  benefit. 

Some  time  in  1808  Dorothy  had  the  pleasure — per- 
haps the  dubious  pleasure — of  marrying  her  eldest  girl 
Frances  with  one  named  Thomas  Alsop,  who  was  a 
clerk  of  the  delivery  of  small  arms  in  the  Ordnance 
Office,  a  post  soon  after  abolished.  Frances,  then  in 
her  twenty-sixth  year,  was  giddy  and  irresponsible, 
with  little  of  the  repose  of  Vere  de  Vere,  and  it  is  open 
to  wonder  whether  it  was  merely  a  coincidence  that 
within  two  minutes'  walk  of  Gyfford  Lodge  (which  was 
given  up  before  July  1808),  and  where  for  two  years 
the  elder  girls  had  lived,  a  hostel  stood  in  four  acres 
of  ground  of  whom  the  owner  was  a  man  named 
William  Alsop.  Nothing  is  known  of  Thomas  Alsop, 
and  he  may  have  been  the  innkeeper's  son.  Doubtless 
Frances  was  promised  a  dowry  of  £10,000,  as  were  her 
sisters.  According  to  the  agreement  made  between 
Dorothy  and  the  Duke  in  1791,  the  latter  was  respon- 
sible for  part  of  this,  but  how  much  was  ever  paid  it  is 
difficult  to  say ;  certainly  the  various  sons-in-law  never 
did  receive  the  sums  they  were  led  to  expect  when  they 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     273 

married,  and  the  nature  of  the  settlements  may  be 
gathered  from  that  made  upon  Dorothea,  whose 
wedding  was  celebrated  in  the  following  March,  also 
with  a  clerk  in  the  Ordnance. 

In  reference  to  this  latter  wedding  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine  made  a  curious  mistake,  publishing  in  the 
marriage  columns  the  two  following  items,  one  after 
the  other — 

"  1809.  March  4th.  Dorothea  Maria  Ford  of 
Bushy  Park  married  F.  E.  March,  Esq.,  of  the 
Ordnance  Office,  the  Tower. 

"  March  6th.  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  son  of  Lord  Henry 
Fitzgerald,  to  Miss  Ford,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Jordan." 

In  the  next  number,  of  course,  a  correction  appeared, 
pointing  out  that  F.  E.  March,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Fitz- 
gerald were  one  and  the  same  person,  and  that  Miss 
Jordan  and  Miss  Ford  were  also  the  same,  the  mistake 
arising  from  the  facts  that  Mr.  March  was  the  natural 
son  of  Lord  Henry  Fitzgerald,  while  Miss  Ford  was 
the  natural  daughter  of  Mrs.  Jordan.  The  bride's 
address  was  given  otherwhere  as  Park  Place,  St.  James, 
which  was  the  home  of  the  newly  married  Frances 
Alsop. 

There  is  one  good  thing  to  be  said  of  those  loose, 
bad  days,  when  the  standard  of  morality  was  lower 
than  at  present,  and  that  was  that  the  natural  children 
were  far  better  seen  after  by  the  most  responsible 
parent,  the  father,  than  they  are  now.  The  men  had 
no  shame  in  such  connections,  regarding  them  as  only 
to  be  expected,  and  they  did  very  often  acknowledge 
and  provide  for  these  children  of  irregular  birth.  Mrs. 
Jordan,  I  think,  made  a  mistake  when  she  entirely 


274     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

relieved  Richard  Ford  of  all  responsibility  for  his 
children;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  that  may  have 
been  one  of  the  conditions  upon  which  that  gentleman 
insisted  when  he  found  himself  superseded. 

But  to  return  to  the  marriage  settlement — a  porten- 
tous vellum  document  consisting  of  four  pages,  each 
about  two  feet  square,  stamped  with  seals  worth 
£4  ios.,  dated  March  3,  1809 — described  in  the  most 
flourished  of  flourishing  writing  as — 

"  Settlement  on  the  marriage  of  Frederick  Edward 
March,  Esq.,  with  Miss  Dorothea  Maria  Jordan,"  and 
it  betrays  some  curious  things  concerning  the  monetary 
arrangements  between  Dorothy  and  Clarence. 

The  five  parties  to  it  were  in  the  following  order : 
Frederick  Edward  March,  Dorothea  Jordan  of  Mor- 
timer Street,  Dorothea  Maria  Jordan,  spinster,  of 
Mortimer  Street,  H.R.H.  William  Henry,  Duke  of 
Clarence,  and  Thomas  Alsop  and  William  Bignall, 
trustees. 

By  this  deed  Dorothy  undertook  to  provide  the  sum 
of  £2000  as  a  marriage  portion,  and  a  further  sum  of 
£200  annually,  thus  making  up  the  £10,000  she 
always  intended  to  give  each  one.  Of  the  £2000 
Dorothy  had  already  paid  one,  which  had  been  in- 
vested in  the  purchase  of  £1,484  43.  6d.  in  three  per 
cent,  consolidated  annuities.  The  second  thousand 
was  paid  by  a  bond  or  obligation  in  writing  given  under 
the  seal  of  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  "  whereby 
His  said  Royal  Highness,  in  consideration  of  the  sum 
of  £1000  heretofore  advanced  to  him  by  the  said 
Dorothea  Jordan  which  he  doth  hereby  acknowledge, 
hath,  at  her  request,  testified  by  his  executing  these 
presents,  etc.,  etc." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  when  a  comparatively 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     275 

simple  affair  of  this  kind  is  wrapped  up  in  twelve  or 
sixteen  square  feet  of  writing  it  is  not  altogether  easy 
to  get  at  its  meaning,  but  the  above  is  clear,  as  is  also 
the  fact  that  the  Duke  could  not  pay  such  a  sum  as 
£1000  down,  but  undertook  to  pay  it  in  quarterly 
instalments  of  £62  ios.,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of 
five  per  cent,  per  annum,  this  sum  to  be  completed  in 
four  years  from  the  26th  day  of  the  following  July; 
and  for  the  better  securing  of  this  two  life  insurance 
policies  were  taken  out  in  the  Westminster  Life  Insur- 
ance Society  in  the  names  of  the  trustees,  whereby  the 
sum  of  £500  should  be  paid  to  them  if  the  Duke  died 
within  two  years.  This  document  was  signed  in  the 
presence  of  the  lawyer,  Charles  H.  Ware  of  Gray's 
Inn,  by  all  but  one  of  the  trustees,  William  Bignall, 
who  signed  after  having  had  it  duly  stamped. 

From  this  paper  it  is  made  evident  how  very  true 
were  the  reports  then  current  concerning  the  debts  and 
difficulties  under  which  the  Duke  was  labouring.  It 
also  hints  at  one  reason  for  the  quarrels  which  were 
said  to  rise  frequently  between  him  and  Dorothy.  If 
she  pinned  him  down  in  this  way  to  paying  her  some- 
thing back  on  account  of  the  money  he  owed  her,  he 
must  have  felt  very  sore,  and  she  probably  only 
exacted  it  by  great  persistency. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  letters  from  the  Duke  to 
Dorothy,  which  Mrs.  Alsop  threatened  to  publish  after 
her  mother's  death,  there  was  evidence  that  the  former 
had  received  loans  from  the  latter,  amounting  in  all 
to  £30,000.  If  this  was  so  there  can  be  little  wonder 
when  Dorothy  wished  to  portion  her  daughters,  and 
found  herself  able  to  do  so  partially  only  by  the  most 
strenuous  and  continuous  work,  that  she  should 
demand  back  some  of  that  money  which  was  definitely 


276     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

lent,  especially  as  she  regarded  that  money  as  put 
aside  for  the  very  purpose  of  portioning  these  girls. 

Information  about  quarrels  not  only  leaked  out  but 
was  published  in  some  Sunday  and  gossiping  papers, 
copies  of  which  no  longer  exist,  and  the  slanderous 
comments  included  her  girls  as  well  as  herself.  Dorothy 
was  described  as  a  match-making  mamma — surely  no 
great  crime ! — only  equal  to  the  Duchess  of  Gordon, 
a  lady  of  whom  it  was  said  that  she  went  over  to  Paris 
in  pursuit  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  whom  she  desired 
as  a  husband  for  one  of  her  daughters,  and  triumph- 
antly brought  him  home  to  be  married.  There  was 
also  a  widespread  rumour  that  the  Bushy  household 
was  to  be  broken  up,  even  that  a  parting  had  taken 
place. 

Concerning  the  gossip  over  the  marriages,  Dorothy 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  James  Boaden,  one  in 
which  the  mother's  heart  speaks  plainly — 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Having  frequently  experienced  your  kindness 
in  assisting  to  do  away  any  unfair  impression,  your 
candour,  believe  me,  cannot  be  better  employed  [in 
the  Press]  than  in  the  defence  of  three  as  good  and 
virtuous  girls  as  ever  existed.  It  would  be  painful  to 
me  and  unnecessary  to  you  to  mention  the  cruel  and 
infamous  reports  for  some  time  in  circulation,  and  to 
the  extent  of  which  I  was  really  a  stranger  till  last 
week.  To  say  it  has  made  me  '  sick  at  heart '  is  saying 
little. 

"  I  remain,  your  obliged  humble  servant, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

In  many  ways  this  year  was  one  of  terror  both  to 
Clarence  and  to  Dorothy,  for  on  February  i  began  the 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     277 

Parliamentary  investigation  into  the  conduct  of  the 
Duke  of  York  for  wrong  use  of  his  military  patronage. 
His  mistress,  Mary  Ann  Clarke,  had,  under  his  pro- 
tection, taken  a  great  house  in  Gloucester  Place,  and 
been  remarkably  extravagant,  keeping  horses,  carriages, 
a  number  of  servants  and  three  chefs,  and  all  on  the 
promise  of  one  of  the  Royal  Dukes  of  an  income  of 
£12,000 !  To  a  woman  of  her  quality  a  promise  was 
for  a  time  as  good  as  a  fulfilment  so  long  as  there  was 
credit  to  be  obtained,  but  when  that  time  had  passed 
she  began  to  feel  the  pressure,  which  she  lightened  by 
taking  money  from  officers  who  wanted  promotion;  in 
plain  language  by  using  the  Duke  as  a  tool  for  the 
selling  of  commissions,  and  the  evidence  at  the  trial 
pointed  to  the  fact  that  more  than  one  Duke  benefited 
as  well  as  herself  from  the  sales. 

There  were  eight  charges  against  the  Duke,  all  of 
which  were  decided  to  be  not  proven,  though  naturally 
there  was  no  hesitation  concerning  the  guilt  of  Mary 
Clarke.  However,  she  was  not  upon  her  trial  in 
actual  fact,  and  she  did  not  care  in  the  least  what 
people  said  of  her,  so  she  kept  a  cool  courage,  made 
herself  look  as  charming  as  possible,  and  was  not  at  all 
frightened  when  being  examined  at  the  bar  of  the 
House.  She  became  indeed  the  heroine  of  the  affair, 
being  cheered  in  the  streets  on  occasions ;  and  York,  in 
spite  of  the  finding,  was  the  person  who  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  hide  his  head  and  resign  his  post  of  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  which  meant  the  relinquishment  of 
about  £6000  per  annum. 

This  affair  considerably  scared  the  King  and  Queen 
and  all  the  Royal  Family.  It  was  one  thing  for  the 
good  Queen  to  encourage  her  young  sons  to  find  mis- 
tresses, or  even  to  hunt  round  for  such  for  them,  with 


278     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

the  kindly,  motherly  intention  of  keeping  them  out  of 
temptation  and  danger ;  but  it  was  quite  another  matter 
when  such  mistresses,  instead  of  allowing  themselves 
meekly  to  be  kicked  out  of  the  way  when  done  with, 
tried  to  save  their  own  skins  by  independent  action. 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert  had  been  tiresome  in  a  dignified 
manner,  but  then  she  made  so  much  of  the  marriage 
ceremony,  and  was  so  respectably  connected  as  well 
as  strong-minded,  that  the  Royal  parents  grudgingly 
accepted  her  at  her  own  valuation. 

They  had,  however,  no  love  for  Dorothy,  who  had 
been  most  inconsiderate  in  having  so  many  children, 
a  matter  which  much  annoyed  them  as  well  as  John 
Bull,  and  as  they  feared  that  composite  person  they 
began  to  wish  that  she  could  be  swept  out  of  their 
existence,  but  they  found  it  hard  to  invent  a  method  of 
getting  rid  of  her.  Clarence  himself  was  undoubtedly 
distressed,  as  indeed  were  all  the  brothers,  for  they 
knew  themselves  to  be  sinners  in  money  affairs,  and 
they  never  could  tell  when  some  meddlesome  paper 
would  not  turn  into  a  bludgeon  for  their  chastisement. 

Thus  this  affair  of  Mary  Clarke  was  in  itself  enough 
to  cause  irritable  temper  at  Bushy  House,  and  when 
later  that  clever  dame  had  the  Duke  of  York's  letters 
to  her  printed  in  a  neat  volume  and  much  advertised, 
though  they  were  never  published,  it  was  confusion 
worse  confounded.  Clarence  had  written  hundreds  of 
letters  to  Dorothy,  letters  which  would  be  a  revela- 
tion of  many  hidden  things  could  we  but  see  them 
now,  and  though  in  his  heart  he  must  have  known 
that  she  would  never  use  them  as  a  weapon  against 
him,  yet  he  was,  when  angry,  inclined  to  say  rash 
things.  So  the  irritation  deepened  and  the  rumours 
expanded. 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     279 

There  was  a  curious  but  extraneous  cause  for  royal 
alarm  this  year,  and  it  lay  in  the  many  conflagrations 
of  public  buildings,  which  was  put  down  to  incendiar- 
ism, to  the  growth  of  republican  ideals  caught  from 
France,  and  to  a  desire  to  degrade  the  Royal  Family. 
Covent  Garden  Theatre  was  the  first  to  be  destroyed, 
September  20,  1808;  in  January  1809  the  whole  of  the 
east  wing  and  the  apartments  occupied  by  the  King 
and  Queen  at  St.  James's  Palace  were  burned  down, 
the  fire  originating  close  to  the  Duke  of  Cambridge's 
rooms.  The  next  month  the  New  Sessions  House, 
Westminster,  was  in  flames;  Drury  Lane  Theatre  was 
burnt  out  in  three  hours ;  a  fire  occurred  at  Kensington 
Palace ;  and  the  gloom  was  deepened  in  the  first  week 
of  March  by  a  report  that  Hampton  Court  Palace  had 
been  burnt  down,  and  a  rumour — again  false — that  a 
train  of  gunpowder  had  been  found  at  the  King's 
Theatre.  Though  reasons  were  hazarded  for  one  or 
two  of  the  fires,  a  panic  seized  upon  the  public,  and  it 
was  declared  that  after  the  burning  of  St.  James's 
Palace  a  letter  was  received  by  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
telling  him  that  he  would  shortly  hear  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  other  public  buildings;  and  that  after  the 
fire  at  Drury  Lane  the  Prince  showed  this  letter  to 
Sheridan. 

Thus  the  Royal  Family  were  in  a  terrible  state  of 
nerves,  and  the  princes  felt  that  it  behoved  them  to 
walk  warily,  to  reform  their  evil  ways  and  to  curry 
favour  with  their  people,  among  whom  were  some  who, 
not  being  too  enlightened  about  the  meaning  of  words, 
were  loudly  accusing  Clarence  of  living  in  open 
adultery. 

The  burning  of  Drury  Lane  merits  more  than  a 
mere  mention  here,  as  it  marked  a  distinct  epoch  in 


280     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Dorothy's  life.  It  had  been  her  theatrical  home  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  now  in  February 
1809  she  ended  her  career  there  with  a  flourish,  turning 
a  somewhat  poor  play  into  a  great  success,  and  so  say- 
ing adieu  to  the  scene  of  her  greatest  triumphs.  For 
in  the  new  Drury  Lane  which  was  opened  in  1813  she 
only  acted  once. 

It  was  widely  declared  that  this  theatre  fire  was 
caused  by  wilful  incendiarism,  as  the  theatre  had  been 
closed  that  day,  though  others  contended  that  plumbers 
had  made  an  exceptionally  big  fire  at  which  to  melt 
lead,  and  had  left  the  fire  burning.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  after  eleven  at  night  that  the  flames  were 
seen,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  burst  out  in  every 
direction.  Little  was  saved  beyond  some  theatrical 
books.  Dorothy  was  one  of  the  greatest  losers,  as 
she  kept  a  large  number  of  dresses  and  other  stage 
property  there ;  but  the  thing  that  she  valued  most — 
her  bureau — was  rescued  by  the  bravery  and  exertion 
of  a  literary  gentleman  named  Kent,  "who  smashed 
in  the  door  of  her  dressing-room  and  secured  it.  What 
it  contained,  however,  remains  a  secret." 

The  building  of  this  theatre  had  cost  £129,000,  there 
were  debts  on  it  amounting  to  £300,000,  and  the  in- 
surance was  only  for  the  small  sum  of  £35,000,  so 
Sheridan's  situation  was  really  desperate,  though  it  is 
reported  that  during  the  fire  he  went  to  the  Piazza 
Coffee  House,  and  upon  a  friencl  remarking  his 
philosophic  calm,  he  replied,  "  Surely  a  man  may  drink 
a  glass  of  wine  at  his  own  fireside." 

The  actors  were  also  in  despair,  but  were  some- 
what relieved  by  a  subscription  and  a  benefit  perform- 
ance at  the  Opera  House,  to  which  Dorothy  gave  her 
services.  Taylor,  the  lessee  of  the  Opera  House, 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     281 

offered  his  theatre  to  the  company  free  for  three  nights, 
and,  by  being  their  own  door-keepers,  the  actors  took 
^2,200.  After  which,  until  April,  when  they  went  to 
the  Lyceum,  the  Drury  Lane  company  acted  several 
times  a  week  at  the  Opera  House ;  but  Dorothy  did  not 
join  them. 

Rumour  asserted  that  a  serious  and  violent  quarrel 
occurred  between  herself  and  the  Prince  on  the  night 
of  the  conflagration,  and  it  is  not  unlikely,  seeing  that 
the  marriage  settlement  of  her  daughter  Dorothea 
must  then  have  been  under  discussion.  Whether  there 
was  a  quarrel  or  not,  Boaden  declares  that  she  with- 
drew from  all  permanent  engagements  from  that  time, 
"  it  not  being  the  wish  of  her  illustrious  friend  that  she 
should  continue  in  the  profession  of  which  she  was  so 
great  an  ornament."  A  statement  which  is  partly 
borne  out  by  one  of  the  following  letters,  obviously 
written  to  Boaden,  and  touching  upon  the  defamatory 
strictures  upon  her  daughters  as  well  as  upon  her 
quarrels  with  the  Duke.  The  latter,  with  her  usual 
large-heartedness  and  pride,  she  denies  in  toto,  and 
yet  there  are  so  many  hints  of  the  trouble,  so  much 
evidence  of  it,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  accept  literally 
what  she  says.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  she 
considered  Boaden  as  the  representative  of  the  Press, 
and  that  she  wrote  to  him,  in  answer  to  an  invita- 
tion from  him,  that  which  she  wished  the  world  to 
believe. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  should  be  very  ungrateful  indeed  if  I  could 
for  a  moment  consider  as  an  enemy  one  from  whom  I 
have  received  very  decided  proofs  of  kindness  and 
attention.  I  love  candour  and  truth  on  all  occasions, 


282     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  the  frankness  with  which  you  speak  of  my  profes- 
sional merits  stamps  a  value  on  your  opinion  of  them, 
and  which  (entre  nous]  I  really  believe  is  quite  as  much 
as  they  deserve ;  but  we  do  not  feel  inclined  to  quarrel 
with  the  world  for  thinking  better  of  us  than  we 
deserve. 

"  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank  you  for  the  humanity 
with  which  you  seem  to  enter  into  my  feelings;  they 
are  indeed  very  acute,  and,  did  you  know  the  three 
incomparable  and  truly  amiable  objects  of  my  anxiety, 
you  would  not  be  inclined  to  withdraw  your  sympathy. 

"With  regard  to  the  report  of  my  quarrel  with  the 
Duke,  every  day  of  our  past  and  present  life  must  give 
the  lie  to  it.  He  is  an  example  for  half  the  husbands 
and  fathers  in  the  world,  the  best  of  masters,  and  the 
most  firm  and  generous  of  friends.  I  will  in  a  day  or 
two  avail  myself  of  your  kind  offer  to  contradict  those 
odious  and  truly  wicked  reports.  I  am  so  ill  that  I  can 
do  nothing  myself,  but  must  wait  for  the  assistance  of 
a  good  and  clever  friend  who  is  at  present  out  of  the 
way,  and  who,  if  the  truth  is  not  quite  scared  out  of 
the  world,  will  endeavour  to  do  away  the  ill  impres- 
sions those  reports  were  meant  to  make.  In  the 
meantime  accept  my  thanks,  and  believe  me, 

'  Yours  truly, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

The  second  letter,  on  the  same  point  and  written 
to  the  same  person,  was  dated  from  Bushy  House  on 
March  27,  1809,  and  runs — 

"  When  I  last  did  myself  the  pleasure  of  writing  to 
you  I  mentioned  that  I  waited  for  the  assistance  of  a 
friend,  who  was  not  just  then  in  the  way,  to  contradict 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     283 

the  cruel  and  defamous  reports  that  were  then  in  cir- 
culation ;  but  on  my  application  to  him  (perhaps  he  was 
right),  he  said  that  what  had  been  done  had  every  good 
effect  that  could  possibly  be  expected  or  wished  for, 
and  that  a  renewal  of  the  subject  might  do  more  harm 
than  good.  Of  this  I  should  like  to  have  your  opinion 
when  you  have  read  the  enclosed.  I  need  not  add 
that  you  will  set  the  author  down  for  a  very  partial 
friend  indeed.  In  obedience  to  the  Duke's  wishes,  I 
have  withdrawn  myself  for  the  present — or  at  least 
till  there  is  a  theatre  royal  for  me  to  appear  in.  Mr. 
March  and  Mr.  Alsop,  the  two  gentlemen  to  whom 
my  daughters  are  married,  will  do  themselves  the 
pleasure  of  leaving  their  cards  at  your  door  next 
week. 

"  I  ever  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  obliged,  humble  servant, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

"  P.S.— I  am  to  play  to-morrow  week  at  the  Opera 
House ;  and,  as  it  is  likely  to  be  my  last  night,  it  would 
not  be  amiss  to  have  it  '  insinuated '  into  the  boxes." 

Boaden  comments  upon  this  last  letter  that  the 
intended  visits  of  Alsop  and  March  were,  "  I  know 
never  made." 

Writing  from  memory  long  after  the  events,  Boaden 
is  at  times  curiously  misleading,  for  he  declares  that 
Dorothy  had  been  away  from  Drury  Lane  for  two 
seasons,  and  "  now  returned  only  to  suffer  in  its  fall." 
As  a  matter  of  fact  she  had  been  acting  through  those 
two  seasons  perhaps  more  persistently  than  at  any 
other  time  of  her  life. 

In  one  of  the  letters  quoted  Dorothy  spoke  of  some- 
thing having  been  done  to  stop  the  slanders,  and  the 


284     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

method  adopted  by  the  clever  friend  is  indicated  in  a 
paragraph  from  The  Morning  Post  of  March  7,  1809. 
'  The  infamous  lies  for  some  time  past  in  circulation 
respecting  Mrs.  Jordan  and  her  unoffending  and  inno- 
cent family  are  likely  to  have  an  end ;  for  as  Sheridan 
says  in  The  School  for  Scandal,  '  If  the  forger  of  the 
lie  is  not  to  be  found,  the  injured  parties  should  imme- 
diately fix  on  some  of  the  endorsers.'  This  method 
will  be  pursued,  and,  it  is  supposed,  will  be  the  means 
of  shutting  up  the  mouths  of  some  very  infamous,  base 
and  malignant  characters."  And  it  really  seems  to 
have  had  some  effect  in  putting  an  end  to  the  noxious 
paragraphs. 

That  Dorothy  withdrew  from  her  profession  is 
emphatically  stated  by  Sir  Jonah  Barrington,  who 
asserts  that  he  frequently  heard  her  solicited  to  retire 
(he  does  not  say  by  whom,  but  leaves  it  for  inference 
that  it  was  the  Duke),  and  adds  that  she  was  urged  to 
forego  all  further  emoluments  from  its  pursuit,  and 
"this  single  fact  gives  the  contradiction  direct  to  the 
reports  which  I  should  feel  it  improper  even  to  allude 
to  further."  (That  the  Duke  took  the  money  she 
earned.) 

Both  Barrington  and  Boaden  were  tremendously 
affected  by  the  honour  which  Royalty  did  them  by 
knowing  them,  and  Barrington's  chief  care  was  to 
whitewash  the  Duke  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power.  Boaden 
knew  Dorothy  far  better  by  correspondence  than  by 
contact,  and  some  of  his  information  he  took  directly 
from  Barrington,  thus  repeating  the  same  mistakes. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  at  this  time  the  Duke  was  far 
too  dependent  upon  Dorothy's  earnings  for  him  to 
wish  her  to  withdraw  from  the  stage,  and  he  was  so 
keen  upon  her  acting  that  he  almost  always  arranged 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     285 

her  provincial  tours  for  her  with  great  care,  and  was 
particularly  anxious  to  secure  her  the  best  terms 
possible. 

That  she  did  not  at  the  time  act  with  the  Drury  Lane 
company  is  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  with  them 
she  could  not  possibly  have  received  the  salary  which 
would  have  made  it  worth  her  while,  and  that  a  week 
in  a  country  town  was  equal  in  value  to  a  month  in 
London. 

Dorothy's  facility  in  letter  writing  has  already  been 
mentioned,  and  it  is  an  extraordinary  thing,  due  to  the 
method  or  want  of  method  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
that  hundreds  of  her  letters  to  him  are  still  in  exist- 
ence. In  June  1906  as  many  as  335  letters,  written 
between  1808  and  1810,  were  sold  at  Sotheby's  for 
^333,  being  described  as  "the  property  of  a  lady." 
These  were  written  from  London,  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, WakefieloV,  •  Bath,  Cheltenham,  York, 
Leicester,  Dublin  and  other  places,  giving  a  minute 
description  of  her  theatrical  life  and  experiences.  A 
casket  of  her  letters  was  also  recently  offered  for  sale 
in  London. 

Many  valuable  letters  by  her  are  also  in  the  private 
collection  of  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley.  In  1899  six  of  her 
letters  to  her  eldest  son  were  sold  in  the  Wright  sale, 
fetching  such  sums  as  £14  15$.  and  ,£13  15^.  each, 
and  these  were  later  sold  at  considerably  advanced 
prices.  The  collection  sold  at  Sotheby's  had  been 
found  at  Bushy  Park  by  Queen  Adelaide,  who,  with 
her  usual  kindliness,  handed  them  to  Lord  Frederick 
Fitzclarence.  How  they  found  their  way  to  the  sale- 
room is  not  known.  In  one  of  the  envelopes  an  old 
Bank  of  England  note  for  £2  was  discovered,  and  I 
am  assured  by  the  owner  of  this  batch  of  letters  that 


286     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

nearly  every  one  of  them  contained  money,  while  her 
weariness  of  acting-  and  her  desire  to  give  up  her 
profession  were  constantly  expressed. 

Here  is  first-hand  evidence,  not  only  that  the  Duke 
could  not  or  would  not  let  her  have  the  rest  which  she 
so  thoroughly  deserved,  but  that  he  did  the  thing  that 
most  of  her  biographers  emphatically — some  scornfully 
— deny :  he  took  every  advantage  of  her  labours. 
Thus,  until  she  was  fifty,  instead  of  living  a  pleasant, 
luxurious  life  of  splendid  guilt,  and  receiving  £1000 
a  year  for  her  personal  needs,  she  was  burdened  with 
the  responsibility  of  adding  what  she  could  to  the 
Duke's  household  expenses.  There  have  been  many 
controversies  over  this  point,  which  these  letters  settle 
once  for  all. 

That  there  was  no  intention  in  the  mind  of  the  Duke 
that  Dorothy  should  leave  the  stage  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  on  Monday,  April  10,  1809,  Dorothy  left 
London  to  go  on  a  tour  to  Bristol  and  Bath — a  tour 
which,  no  doubt,  the  Duke  arranged  for  her  with  his 
usual  care.  She  took  one  daughter — probably  Lucy — 
with  her,  and  soon  found  that  the  slanders  had  not  only 
preceded  her,  but  had  formed  so  excellent  an  advertise- 
ment for  her  as  to  produce  large  receipts.  From  that 
town  she  wrote  to  Boaden  a  letter  which  gives  an  echo 
of  her  weariness  of  the  stage,  tells  of  her  success  of  the 
moment  and  of  the  gossip  which  surrounded  her.  It 
is  really  a  very  interesting  letter,  and  her  statement 
that  she  started  life  at  fourteen  gives  weight  to  the 
report  that  she  began  life  in  a  milliner's  shop.  She 
also  speaks  of  brothers  and  sisters,  which  shows  that 
she  had  more  than  one  sister,  and  alludes  to  the 
favours — probably  of  Press  announcements — which 
Boaden  has  granted  her. 


Dame  Gossip  and  Dorothy     287 

"Bath,  Sunday,  April  22,  1809. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  should  be  more  insensible  than  my  heart 
tells  me  I  am  if  I  did  not  experience  much  gratification 
from  your  very  kind  and  friendly  letters — friendly 
they  must  be,  for  I  am  ever  asking  favours  of  you,  and 
feel  it  impossible  that  I  can  ever  return  them. 

"  My  professional  success  through  life  has,  indeed, 
been  most  extraordinary,  and,  consequently,  attended 
with  great  emolument.  But  from  my  first  starting  in 
life,  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen,  I  have  always  had  a 
large  family  to  support.  My  mother  was  a  duty.  But 
on  brothers  and  sisters  I  have  lavished  more  money 
than  can  be  supposed,  and  more,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
than  I  can  well  justify  to  those  who  have  a  stronger 
and  prior  claim  to  my  exertions.  With  regard  to 
myself  (as  much  depends  on  our  ideas  of  riches),  I 
have  certainly  enough,  but  this  is  too  selfish  a  con- 
sideration to  weigh  one  moment  against  what  I  consider 
to  be  duty ;  I  am  quite  tired  of  the  profession.  I  have 
lost  those  great  excitements,  vanity  and  emulation. 
The  first  has  been  amply  gratified,  and  the  last  I  see 
no  occasion  for;  but  still,  without  these  it  is  a  mere 
money-getting  drudgery. 

"  The  enthusiasm  of  the  good  people  here  is  really 
ridiculous,  but  it  brings  grist  to  the  mill,  and  I  shall, 
notwithstanding  the  great  drawback  of  unsettled 
weather,  clear,  between  this  place  and  Bristol,  from 
£800  to  £900. 

"  Though  I  very  seldom  go  out  when  from  home, 
I  was  tempted  by  my  dear  girl  to  go  to  a  fashionable 
library  to  read  the  papers,  and,  not  being  known,  was 
entertained  by  some  ladies  with  a  most  pathetic  de- 
scription of  the  parting  between  me  and  the  Duke ! 


288     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

My  very  dress  was  described,  and  the  whole  conversa- 
tion accurately  repeated !  Unfortunately  for  the 
party,  a  lady  came  in  who  immediately  addressed  me 
by  name,  which  threw  them  into  the  most  ridiculous 
and  (I  conceive)  the  most  unpleasant  embarrassment 
imaginable.  In  pity  to  them,  I  left  the  place  imme- 
diately, and  flattered  myself  that  I  did  not  show  any 
disgust  or  ill-nature  on  the  occasion. 

!C  The  last  favour  I  asked  of  you  was  not  to  gratify 

my  own  vanity,  but  my  best  friends' ;  who,  in  spite  of 

the  world,  are,  as  I  can  with  truth  assure  you,  as  much 

interested  about  me  as  they  were  seventeen  years  ago. 

"  Believe  me  ever  your  truly  obliged 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

"  P.S. — I  fear  I  have  tired  you  with  my  scrawl." 

Her  engagement  at  Bristol  was  for  Monday,  April 
10,  and  her  six  or  seven  nights  at  Bath  would  extend 
over  two  or  three  weeks,  as  she  now  only  acted  two  or 
three  nights  a  week,  and  thus  she  did  not  get  home 
again  until  the  end  of  the  month,  the  Bath  verdict  upon 
her  being  that  she  had  never  acted  better  in  her  life. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

TOIL    AND    TROUBLE 

"  To  comic  Jordan's  laughing  eye, 

The  tear  of  pity  stole  ; 
But  in  revenge  she  drew  a  sigh, 
From  each  spectator's  soul." 

ANON. 

"  It  is  by  the  ignorant  that  worth  is  most  usually  injured.  It  is  by 
those  who  know  her  not  that  Mrs.  Jordan  is  discredited.  Those  who  do 
know  her,  never  can  know  enough  of  her  good  qualities,  her  conciliatory 
temper,  her  engaging  manners,  her  readiness  to  oblige,  and  her  willing- 
ness to  assist,  the  open  generosity  of  her  hand,  the  superior  liberality  of 
her  mind." — Contemporary  Criticism. 

IF  Dorothy  was  agitated  about  her  girls,  she  now 
began  to  know  what  it  meant  to  have  a  boy  in  danger ; 
for  while  she  and  her  children  were  preparing  for 
Christmas  in  1808,  her  son  George  was  tramping  with 
Sir  John  Moore's  army  to  Corunna,  and  taking  part  in 
the  battle  of  that  name.  Some  time  in  February  he 
was  home  again,  and  his  coming  brought  joy  to  his 
parents,  the  Duke  writing  to  his  sister  Amelia,  who 
took  an  affectionate  interest  in  his  children,  announcing 
his  return  :  "  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  George 
arrived  last  night,  in  high  health  and  spirits,  after 
having  established  a  perfect  character  with  all  ranks  in 
our  army.  General  Stewart,  who  certainly  on  one 
occasion  saved  his  life,  speaks  of  my  son  in  such  terms 
of  commendation,  that  unless  writing  to  you  I  would 
not  mention  the  circumstances.  Indeed,  in  the  event 
of  the  General  going  again  he  told  me  he  would  rather 
have  George  than  any  other  for  his  aide-de-camp." 

In  April,  George  did  go  again  to  the  Peninsula,  and 
in  July  was  fighting  in  the  Battle  of  Talavera,  when  a 
T  289 


290     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

splinter  of  a  shell  grazed  his  thigh  and  knee,  but  did  no 
severe  damage.  It  was  concerning  him  and  his  ex- 
ploits that  Dorothy  wrote  to  Boaden  while  she  was  in 
Ireland,  incidentally  indicating  the  domesticity  of 
her  home,  while  hinting  at  Boaden's  press  services. 
For  in  June  1809,  Dorothy — with  her  daughter  Lucy 
— and  Kemble  went  to  Dublin,  where  they  proved 
equally  popular.  What  terms  Kemble  made  is  not 
known,  probably  £100  a.  night,  for  he  was  said  to  leave 
the  Irish  capital  with  ^1500  in  his  pocket.  Dorothy's 
arrangement  was  for  half  the  receipts,  one  which  left 
plenty  of  opportunity  for  evasion — an  opportunity 
which  seems  to  have  been  liberally  taken,  as  though  the 
house  was  crowded  when  she  played,  the  takings  were 
always  reported  as  small. 

Dublin,  Sunday,  June  i8th,  1809. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  had  left  Bushy  for  this  place  before  the 
arrival  of  your  letter.  That  you  would  enter  into  my 
feelings  respecting  my  dear  boy,  I  was  convinced, 
when  I  sent  you  the  '  extract ' ;  and  as  you  rightly 
supposed,  only  meant  it  for  your  own  perusal;  for, 
however  gratifying  it  might  be  to  my  feeling,  to  see  any 
testimonial  of  his  good  conduct  before  the  world,  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  be  very  angry 
with  me  if  he  thought  I  had  made  it  public.  I  only 
mention  this  to  show  you  that  he  is  an  unassuming, 
modest  boy ;  so  much  so,  that  we  never  get  him  to  speak 
of  the  business  at  Corunna,  where  he  was  himself 
concerned;  but  the  accounts  of  him  from  every  other 
quarter,  were,  indeed,  most  gratifying. 

"  With  regard  to  myself,  I  have  not  much  to  say;  the 
audience  are,  of  course,  very  kind,  and  my  reception 
was  most  brilliant.  But  entre  nous,  I  do  not  think  I 


Toil  and  Trouble  291 

shall  make  as  much  money  as  I  expected.  With  every 
good  wish,  I  remain,  Dear  sir,  Your  most  obliged, 
Humble  Servant, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

The  visit  promised  well,  and  might  have  gone  well 
but  that  Jones  the  manager,  and  Crampton,  probably 
the  stage  manager,  appeared  to  imagine  that  such  a 
person  as  Dorothy  could  carry  the  whole  comedy  on 
her  own  shoulders,  and  needed  no  particular  support 
from  other  actors.  The  company  was  a  poor  one,  as 
Harrington  says,  "  many  of  the  performers  were  below 
mediocrity.  One  was  forgetful — another  drunk.  I 
confess  I  never  myself  saw  such  a  crew."  Boaden 
went  further,  saying  that  they  were  unable  to  give  cues, 
and  knew  nothing  of  stage  business.  Jones  himself 
is  accused  of  disrespect  to  Dorothy,  he  being  probably 
actuated  by  a  belief  in  the  scandals  which  had  made 
her  so  miserable  earlier  in  the  year. 

Peggy  was  her  introduction  on  Wednesday,  June  14, 
and  the  next  night  she  played  Lady  Teazle  to  the 
Charles  Surface  of  an  actor  named  Dwyer,  from 
Edinburgh.  The  Saturday  was  regarded  as  an 
especial  performance,  being  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Richmond,  and  then  she 
played  Beatrice  to  Dwyer's  Benedick.  Twice  she  was 
Bizarre  in  The  Inconstant,  a  play  new  to  Dwyer,  and 
in  which,  on  both  occasions,  he  disgraced  himself,  for 
he  not  only  had  not  troubled  to  learn  his  part,  but  on 
June  27  he  was  certainly  drunk,  and  probably  on  other 
evenings  too.  That  night  he  broke  down  hopelessly, 
and  Dorothy  did  her  best  to  prompt  him,  until  at  last 
she  lost  patience.  Upon  this,  Dwyer  appealed  to  the 
audience,  declaring  that  he  played  the  part  at  short 


292     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

notice  to  please  Mrs.  Jordan;  and  then  "  an  uncommon 
clamour  instantly  ensued,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
play  was  completely  destroyed,"  says  the  Freeman's 
Journal. 

Dorothy  naturally  refused  to  act  again  with  Dwyer, 
and  finished  her  term  there  without  realizing  that 
anything  else  would  occur.  Dwyer,  however,  had  lost 
the  chance  of  any  further  engagement  in  Dublin,  and 
his  reputation  had  suffered,  which  he  could  not  pass 
over. 

Socially,  Dorothy  seems  to  have  been  a  success, 
having  invitations  poured  upon  her;  Barrington  does 
not  fail  to  mention  that  he  himself  met  her  at  various 
houses,  and  had  her  at  his  own.  He  says,  though,  that 
people  who  expected  to  hear  wit  dropping  from  her  lips 
every  time  she  spoke  were  disappointed,  as  in  society 
she  was  quiet,  "  almost  reserved,"  and  "  the  performer 
was  wholly  merged  in  the  gentlewoman." 

As  far  as  can  be  traced  this  was  Barrington's  intro- 
duction to  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  he  ran  the  friendship 
vigorously.  But  in  his  sketches  he  would  have  the 
world  believe  that  he  had  known  her  long  and  inti- 
mately. He  talks  of  "her  last  visit  to  the  Irish 
capital,"  "when  last  in  Dublin,"  "  I  once  accompanied 
Mrs.  Jordan  to  the  Green  Room  at  Liverpool,"  "  I  have 
seen  her  on  a  cruise,  that  is,  at  a  provincial  theatre, 
having  gone  over  once  from  Dublin  for  that  purpose ; " 
etc.  "  I  have  seen  this  accomplished  woman  in  the 
midst  of  one  of  the  finest  families  in  England,  sur- 
rounded by  splendour,  beloved,  respected,  and  treated 
with  all  the  deference  paid  to  a  member  of  high  society. 
I  have  had  the  gratification  of  knowing  intimately  that 
amiable  woman  and  justly  celebrated  performer.  Her 
public  talents  are  recorded,  her  private  merits  are 


Toil  and  Trouble  293 

known  to  few.  I  enjoyed  a  portion  of  her  confidence 
on  several  very  particular  subjects,  and  had  full 
opportunity  of  appreciating  her  character."  And  in 
another  paragraph  he  asserts :  "  I  chanced  to  acquire 
the  honour  of  a  very  favourable  introduction  to  His 
Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  became 
the  efficient  friend  of  me  and  my  family — not  with  that 
high  and  frigid  mien  which  so  often  renders  ungra- 
cious the  favours  of  authorities  in  the  British  Govern- 
ment, but  with  the  frankness  and  sincerity  of  a  prince. 
He  received  and  educated  my  only  son  as  his  own,  and 
sent  him,  as  Lieutenant  of  the  5th  Dragoon  Guards, 
to  make  his  campaign  in  the  Peninsula." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Harrington  saw  Dorothy  Bland 
as  a  girl,  on  her  first  introduction  to  the  Irish  stage,  and 
his  next  meeting  with  her  was  on  her  last,  it  is  true,  but 
only  other  visit  there.  Then  he  paid  strong  court  to 
her,  became  her  champion,  and  by  her  means  gained 
an  introduction  to  the  Duke.  With  Dorothy  he 
achieved  a  definite  end,  for  she  appears  to  have  invited 
young  Edward  Barrington  to  go  back  with  her  to 
Bushy  Park  on  a  visit,  which  ended  in  his  being  sent 
by  the  Duke  to  the  Military  College  at  Marlow,  where 
George  Fitzclarence  had  been  educated.  Barrington 
also  struck  up  a  friendship  with  Lucy  Ford,  as  is 
shown  by  various  remarks  in  letters. 

Dorothy  had  arranged  to  take  her  leave  of  Dublin 
on  Monday,  July  3,  but  probably  stayed  a  few  days 
longer,  as  she  did  not  arrive  at  Bushy  until  a  week 
later.  There  she  found  a  great  disappointment  await- 
ing her,  which  caused  the  announcement  of  her  arrival 
to  Barrington  to  be  of  a  somewhat  agitated  kind. 

"  My  dear  Sir,  I  have  returned  here.  But,  alas !  the 
happiness  I  had  promised  myself  has  met  a  cruel 


294     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

check  at  finding  the  good  Duke  very  unwell.  You  can 
scarcely  conceive  my  misery  at  the  cause  of  such  a 
disappointment;  but  there  is  every  appearance  of  a 
favourable  result  not  being  very  distant;  'tis  his  old 
periodical  attack  [asthma  followed  by  gout],  but  not 
near  so  severe  as  I  have  seen  it  ...  I  shall  have 
neither  head  nor  nerves  to  write,  or  even  to  think,  till 
I  am  able  to  contribute  to  your  pleasure,  by  announcing 
my  own  happiness  and  his  recovery." 

The  Duke  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  go  down  to 
Brighton  to  help  to  celebrate  his  eldest  brother's 
birthday  at  the  beginning  of  August,  and  Dorothy  was 
alone  when  the  news  of  Talavera  filtered  through. 
Concerning  this  she  wrote  to  some  sympathetic  friend, 
perhaps  Boaden,  as  he  possessed  the  letter — 

"  Bushy,  Thursday,  August  1 7th,  1809. 

"  I  am  very  vain,  but  still  I  have  judgment  enough 
not  to  be  fond  of  doing  that  which  I  know  I  do 
very  ill.  Still,  I  feel  pleasure  in  writing  to  you  who 
so  kindly  enter  into  all  my  feelings.  You  may  easily 
guess  what  they  were  last  Monday  night,  when  I  heard 
the  account  of  the  Battle  of  Talavera.  Five  thousand 
killed  !  the  Duke  at  Brighton  !  I  went  to  bed,  but  not 
to  sleep. 

:<  The  Duke  set  out  at  five  o'clock  on  the  Tuesday, 
to  be  the  first  to  relieve  me  from  my  misery.  I  am 
mentally  relieved ;  but  it  has  torn  my  nerves  to  pieces. 
I  have  five  boys,  and  must  look  forward  to  a  life  of 
constant  anxiety  and  suspense.  I  am  at  present  very 
ill — Excuse  this  hasty  scrawl,  and  believe  me,  Your 
ever  obliged, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

She  had  not  been  long  at  home  when  news  reached 


Toil  and  Trouble  295 

her  of  an  action  for  libel  Dwyer  intended  to  take 
against  a  man  named  Corri — sometimes  given  as 
Conolly — who  was  associated  with  The  Dublin 
Satirist,  and  the  whole  matter  took  on  the  aspect  of  a 
new  scandal,  in  which  the  minor  press  delighted.  One 
cause  being  that,  among  the  old  acquaintances  whom 
Dorothy  found  in  Dublin  was  an  actor  named  Barratt, 
who  had  been  in  the  theatre  when  she,  as  Dolly 
Francis,  uttered  her  first  laugh  on  the  stage.  When  he, 
old  and  poor,  made  himself  known  to  her  she  gave 
him  assistance  with  her  accustomed  generosity.  The 
counsel  for  Dwyer,  a  man  named  Gould,  twisted  this 
natural  incident  into  something  unclean  and  bad, 
blackening  her  character  as  much  as  possible;  for 
Harrington,  who  joined  in  the  fray,  found  that  part  of 
Gould's  cross-examining  consisted  of  asking  questions 
"  highly  improper  to  that  lady,  but  he  (Gould)  took  care 
not  to  go  too  far  with  me  when  I  was  present — a  mono- 
syllable or  two  I  found  quite  sufficient  to  check  the 
exuberance  of  *  my  learned  friend.' ' 

Harrington  kept  Dorothy  posted  up  in  the  matter,  as 
is  seen  by  her  letter  to  him ;  and  some  allusions  were 
made  in  the  English  press. 

"Bushy  House,  Wednesday. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Not  having  the  least  suspicion  of  the  busi- 
ness in  Dublin,  it  shocked  and  grieved  me  very  much ; 
not  only  on  my  own  account;  but  I  regret  that  I  should 
have  been  the  involuntary  cause  of  anything  painful  to 
you,  or  to  your  amiable  family.  But  of  Mr.  Jones  I 
can  think  anything;  and  I  beg  you  will  do  me  the 
justice  to  believe  that  my  feelings  are  not  selfish. 
Why,  indeed,  should  I  expect  to  escape  their  infamous 
calumnies?  Truth,  however,  will  force  its  way,  and 


296     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

justice  exterminate  that  nest  of  vipers.  I  wanted 
nothing  from  Mr.  Crampton's  generosity;  but  I  had  a 
claim  on  his  justice,  his  honour. 

"  During  the  two  representations  of  the  Inconstant,  I 
represented  to  him  the  state  Mr.  Dwyer  was  in,  and 
implored  him,  out  of  respect  to  the  audience,  if  not 
in  pity  to  my  terrors,  to  change  the  play.  As  to  the 
libel  on  Mr.  Dwyer,  charged  to  me  by  Mr.  Gould,  I 
never,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  words  or  by  writing, 
demeaned  myself  by  interfering,  in  the  most  remote 
degree,  with  so  wretched  a  concern.  I  knew  no  editor, 
I  read  no  newspapers,  while  in  Dublin.  The  charge  is 
false  and  libellous  on  me,  published,  I  presume, 
through  Mr.  Gould's  assistance.  Under  that  view  of 
the  case  he  will  feel  himself  rather  unpleasantly  cir- 
cumstanced, should  I  call  upon  him  either  to  prove  or 
disavow  his  assertions.  To  be  introduced  in  any  way 
into  such  a  business  shocks  and  grieves  me;  he  might 
have  pleaded  for  his  companions  without  calumniating 
me;  but,  for  the  present,  I  shall  drop  an  irksome 
subject,  which  has  already  given  me  more  than 
ordinary  uneasiness. 

;<  Yours,  etc., 

"DORA  JORDAN." 

The  Monthly  Mirror,  commenting  on  the  incident, 
added  :  "  Some  of  the  papers  state  that  there  was  a 
fracas  between  Mrs.  Jordan  and  another  performer 
at  the  Dublin  theatre.  There  was  no  fracas;  but  the 
fact  is  Mr.  Dwyer  behaved  improperly  on  the  stage, 
and  the  manager  very  properly  withdrew  him  during 
the  remainder  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  performances  there. 
If  Mr.  Dwyer  will  send  on  a  relation  of  the  story  as 
he  tells  it,  it  shall  be  inserted."  An  invitation  which 
Mr.  Dwyer  did  not  accept. 


Toil  and  Trouble  297 

Judgment  was  not  given  in  this  case  until  February 
1810,  the  verdict  being  that  Dwyer  was  to  receive  £200 
damages  from  Corri  for  the  publication  of  strictures 
upon  his  conduct  in  appealing  to  the  audience  against 
a  rebuke  given  him  by  Mrs.  Jordan  for  his  acting,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  had  lost  the  benefit  of  his 
employment  by  the  managers  of  the  Dublin  and 
Galway  theatres.  With  this  £200  Dwyer  went  to 
America,  "  where  he  was  much  admired." 

Beginning  September  18,  1809,  Dorothy,  taking 
Frances  Alsop  with  her,  made  a  north-westerly  tour, 
acting  at  Liverpool,  Chester  and  Leicester,  and  clear- 
ing about  £1200,  a  proof,  said  The  Sun,  "that 
theatrical  judgment  is  not  confined  to  the  metropolis." 
It  was  seven  years  since  she  had  last  been  to  Liverpool, 
and  she  had  changed  much  in  that  time,  for  life  had 
dealt  hardly  with  her  of  late,  she  had  had  much  to 
endure,  and  she  knew  that — however  brave  and  cheer- 
ful the  accounts  of  her  domestic  happiness  given  to  her 
friends — that  happiness,  if  not  entirely  doomed,  was 
slowly  eluding  her;  she  knew  that  Clarence  could 
never  really  stand  out  against  the  Royal  wishes,  and 
against  his  own  monetary  difficulties.  So  at  Liverpool 
it  was  remarked  that  that  laugh  which  had  been  so 
essential  to  her  well-being  was  rarely  heard  in  private. 
Barrington,  who  went  over  from  Dublin  to  see  her  act 
for  a  few  nights,  says  that  Mrs.  Alsop  and  "her  old 
maid  who  assiduously  attended  her,"  would  go  to  the 
Green  Room  with  her,  she  being  languid  and  depressed. 
Yet  it  seemed  that  the  moment  her  feet  touched  the 
boards,  her  spirits  rose,  her  voice  rang  clear,  and  her 
ready  laugh  dispelled  every  symptom  of  depression. 

Her  "  cruise  "  over,  Dorothy  wrote  to  Barrington  in 
November — 


298     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

"  My  dear  Sir,  I  returned  here  on  the  ;th  inst.,  after 
a  very  fatiguing,  though  very  prosperous  cruise  of  five 
weeks,  and  found  all  as  well  as  I  could  wish.  Your 
Edward  left  us  this  morning ;  I  found  him  improved  in 
everything.  I  never  saw  the  Duke  enjoy  anything 
more  than  the  poultry  you  sent  us ;  they  were  delicious. 
He  desires  me  to  offer  his  best  regards  to  yourself  and 
your  ladies.  Lucy  is  gone  on  a  visit  to  Lady  de  Roos." 

A  little  later  she  wrote  :  "  I  cannot  resist  the  pleasure 
of  informing  you  that  your  dear  boy  has  not  only 
passed,  but  passed  with  great  credit,  at  the  Military 
College.  It  gives  us  all  the  highest  satisfaction.  My 
two  beloved  boys  are  now  at  home;  they  have  both 
gone  to  South  Hill  to  see  your  Edward.  We  shall 
have  a  full  and  merry  house  at  Christmas;  'tis  what 
the  dear  Duke  delights  in.  A  happier  set,  when 
altogether,  I  believe  never  existed.  The  ill-natured 
parts  of  the  world  never  can  enjoy  the  tranquil 
pleasures  of  domestic  happiness.  I  have  made  two 
most  lucrative  trips  since  I  saw  you.  Atkinson  came 
to  see  me  at  Liverpool :  quite  as  poetical  as  ever." 

In  a  further  letter,  early  in  1810,  announcing  a 
return  from  Maidenhead,  where  the  Duke  had  a  small 
house,  she  describes  how  well  Edward  looks  in  his 
uniform,  and  adds — 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that  your 
young  friend  Lucy  is  about  to  be  married,  much  to  my 
satisfaction,  to  Colonel  Hawker  of  the  i4th  Dragoons  : 
he  is  a  most  excellent  man,  and  has  a  very  good  private 
property  :  she  will  make  the  best  of  wives — a  better 
girl  never  lived  :  it  makes  me  quite  happy,  and  I  intend 
to  give  her  the  value  of  £10,000." 

The  various  allusions  in  these  letters  to  Liverpool, 
to  her  boys  being  at  home,  and  to  Lucy's  engagement, 


Toil  and  Trouble  299 

date  them  all  as  being  written  within  eight  months  of 
the  Dublin  visit,  in  spite  of  the  wily  Harrington's 
insinuating  way  of  trying  to  make  us  believe  that  he 
was  a  long-tried  friend  of  the  family.  That  gentleman 
had  done  what  he  had  angled  for,  he  had  got  a  free 
education  with  further  prospects  for  his  son,  and  he 
paid  for  it  by  writing  a  most  fulsome  panegyric  upon 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  in  his  Recollections;  asserting 
that  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life  the  Duke's  solicitude 
for  Dorothy  was  undiminished.  If  this  was  truly  so, 
most  folks  would  agree  that  his  Royal  solicitude  was 
a  most  undesirable  thing.  "  He  was  incapable  of 
unkindness  to  Mrs.  Jordan  ...  he  begged  her  to 
leave  the  stage,  but,  infatuated  with  attachment  to 
theatrical  pursuits,"  she  continued  to  act;  "she  re- 
mained, to  the  very  moment  of  her  death,  in  full 
possession  of  all  the  means  of  comfort — nay,  if  she 
chose  it,  of  luxury  and  splendour''  And  he  finishes 
his  absurd  and  untrue  tirade  by  saying  grandiloquently 
of  her  miserable  stay  in  France,  "as  she  (Dorothy) 
wished,  during  her  residence  in  France,  to  be  totally 
retired,  she  took  no  suite." 

Of  the  visit  to  Chester,  Ryley,  an  old  actor  who,  as 
The  Itinerant,  wrote  nine  volumes  of  reminiscences, 
gives  an  anecdote  which,  if  long  and  oft-quoted,  is 
interesting  for  its  further  proof  of  Dorothy's  kindness 
of  heart.  The  old  man  prefaced  his  story  by  the 
following — 

'  Those  who,  like  me,  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
being  on  terms  of  friendly  intimacy  with  that  unri- 
valled actress,  equally  a  credit  to  her  profession  and 
an  honour  to  human  nature,  will  corroborate  my  testi- 
mony in  asserting  that,  in  addition  to  her  many  other 
qualities  she  possessed  a  heart  sensible  of  the  most 


300     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

tender  and  humane  emotions,  called  into  instant  action 
by  the  least  approach  of  misery  or  distress." 

Then  comes  this  relation  :  "  During  her  short  stay 
at  Chester,  where  she  had  been  performing,  her 
washerwoman,  a  widow  with  three  small  children,  was, 
by  a  merciless  creditor,  thrown  into  prison;  a  small 
debt  of  about  forty  shillings  was  increased,  by  law 
expenses,  to  eight  pounds.  As  soon  as  Mrs.  Jordan 
heard  of  the  circumstance,  she  sent  for  the  attorney, 
paid  him  the  demand,  and  observed,  with  as  much 
severity  as  her  good-natured  countenance  could 
assume,  '  You  lawyers  are  certainly  infernal  spirits, 
allowed  on  earth  to  make  poor  mortals  miserable/ 
The  attorney,  however,  pocketed  the  affront,  and  with 
a  low  bow  made  his  exit. 

"  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  the  poor  woman 
was  liberated;  as  Mrs.  Jordan  was  taking  her  usual 
walk  with  her  servant,  the  widow,  with  her  children, 
followed  her,  and  just  as  she  had  taken  shelter  from  a 
shower  of  rain  in  a  kind  of  porch,  dropped  on  her 
knees  and  with  grateful  emotion,  exclaimed,  '  God  for 
ever  bless  you,  Madam !  You  have  saved  me  and  my 
children  from  ruin.'  The  children,  beholding  their 
mother's  tears,  added,  by  their  cries  to  the  affecting 
scene,  which  a  sensitive  mind  could  not  behold  but 
with  strong  feelings  of  sympathy.  The  natural  liveli- 
ness of  Mrs.  Jordan's  disposition  was  not  easily 
damped  by  sorrowful  scenes;  however,  although  she 
strove  to  hide  it,  the  tear  of  feeling  stole  down  her 
cheek,  and  stooping  to  kiss  the  children,  she  slipped 
a  pound  note  into  the  mother's  hand,  and  in  her  usual 
playful  manner,  replied,  *  There,  there ;  now  it's  all 
over ;  go,  good  woman,  God  bless  you !  don't  say 
another  word.'  The  grateful  creature  would  have 


Toil  and  Trouble  301 

replied  but  her  benefactress  insisted  on  her  silence  and 
departed. 

"  It  happened  that  another  person  had  taken  shelter 
under  the  porch,  and  witnessed  the  whole  of  this  inter- 
esting scene,  who,  as  soon  as  Mrs.  Jordan  observed 
him,  came  forward,  and  he,  holding  out  his  hand, 
exclaimed  with  a  deep  sigh,  '  Lady,  pardon  the  free- 
dom of  a  stranger;  but  would  to  the  Lord  the  world 
were  all  like  thee  !  '  The  figure  of  this  man  bespoke 
his  calling;  his  countenance  was  pale;  and  a  suit  of 
sable,  rather  the  worse  for  wear,  covered  his  tall  and 
spare  person.  The  penetrating  eye  of  Thalia's 
favourite  votary  soon  developed  his  character  and 
profession,  and,  with  her  wonted  good  humour, 
retreating  a  few  paces  she  replied,  '  No,  I  won't  shake 
hands  with  you.'  '  Why  ? '  '  Because  you  are  a 
Methodist  preacher,  and  when  you  know  who  I  am, 
you'll  send  me  to  the  devil !  ' 

*  The  Lord  forbid !  I  am,  as  you  say,  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  tells  us  to  clothe  the 
naked,  feed  the  hungry,  and  relieve  the  distressed ;  and 
do  you  think  I  can  behold  a  sister  fulfil  the  commands 
of  my  Great  Master,  without  feeling  that  spiritual 
attachment  which  leads  me  to  break  through  worldly 
customs,  and  offer  you  the  hand  of  friendship  and 
brotherly  love  ? ' 

'  Well,  well,  you  are  a  good  old  soul,  I  dare  say — 
but — I — I — don't  like  fanatics ;  and  you'll  not  like  me 
when  I  tell  you  who  I  am.'  '  I  hope  I  shall.'  *  Well, 
then ;  I  tell  you  I  am  a  player.'  The  preacher  sighed. 
1  Yes,  I  am  a  player;  and  you  must  have  heard  of  me; 
Mrs.  Jordan  is  my  name.'  After  a  short  pause — he 
again  extended  his  hand,  and  with  a  complaisant 
countenance  replied,  *  The  Lord  bless  thee,  whoever 


302     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

thou  art;  His  goodness  is  unlimited.  He  has  bestowed 
on  you  a  large  portion  of  His  spirit;  and  as  to  thy 
calling,  if  thy  soul  upbraid  thee  not,  the  Lord  forbid 
that  I  should.' 

'  Thus  reconciled,  and  the  rain  having  abated,  they 
left  the  porch  together;  the  offer  of  his  arm  was 
accepted ;  and  the  female  Roscius  of  Comedy,  and  the 
disciple  of  John  Wesley  proceeded  arm  in  arm  to  the 
door  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  dwelling.  At  parting,  the 
preacher  shook  hands  with  her,  saying,  '  Fare  thee 
well,  Sister ;  I  know  not  what  the  principles  of  people 
of  thy  calling  may  be;  thou  art  the  first  I  ever  con- 
versed with;  but  if  their  benevolent  practices  equal 
thine,  I  hope  and  trust,  at  the  great  day,  the 
Almighty  God  will  say  to  each,  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee." ' " 

Colonel  Hawker  of  the  i4th  Dragoons  was  a 
person  of  considerable  interest  to  Dorothy  early  in  the 
year  1810,  for  he  was  going  to  marry  her  daughter 
Lucy.  He  was  not  a  young  man,  being  about  fifty  at 
the  time,  a  widower  whose  first  wife  had  died  the 
preceding  May,  and  the  father  of  a  grown-up  daughter, 
who  was  to  be  married  during  the  following  year.  He 
was  aide-de-camp  to  the  King,  and  had  been  raised  to 
the  rank  of  Colonel  in  November  1809.  He  was  also  a 
friend  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  of  Clarence,  and  so 
had  opportunities  of  meeting  Lucy  frequently.  It  must 
be  noted  that  the  girl  had  many  friends  in  aristocratic 
circles,  and  among  her  mother's  relatives,  and  was  not 
in  the  least  leading  the  secluded  vicariously  penitent 
life  of  a  child  of  shame,  as  good  Victorians  later  would 
have  thought  the  correct  thing.  Hawker's  daughter 
was  a  visitor  in  the  Clarence  household,  and  helped  to 
make  Lucy's  path  smooth. 


Toil  and  Trouble  303 

To  give  this  daughter  a  standing  independent  of 
herself,  Dorothy  took  for  her  a  house  named  the 
Priory  at  Sydenham,  and  it  was  probably  thence  the 
week  before  the  wedding  that  the  following  letter  was 
addressed  to  the  Duke — 

"  There  was  a  mistake  in  the  order  for  the  carriage 
which  is  the  reason  of  its  coming  down  so  late.  I  saw 
Hawker  last  night,  who  is  better,  and  will  dine  with 
you  if  you  have  no  objection.  The  two  beautiful  Birds 
are  come,  and  I  shall  be  at  a  loss  how  to  keep  them, 
as  their  present  cage  is  too  small ;  however,  I  must  keep 
them  here  till  Saturday,  when  I  wish  you  would  make 
it  convenient  to  send  the  carman  for  the  large  cage, 
which  is  just  the  thing  for  them.  Henry  is  very  well 
and  very  happy. 

"  Miss  Hawker  will  return  to-morrow  with  Sophy ; 
love  to  all,  I  shall  be  very  glad  when  this  week  is  over. 

"  God  Bless  you  all, 

"D.  J. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  you  enclosed  me  this  letter 
from  George  or  not." 

So  on  April  30,  1810,  Samuel  Hawker  was  married 
to  Lucy  Ford  in  the  presence  of  Dorothea  Jordan, 
Sophia  Fitzclarence,  Andrew  Nixon,  and  Henry 
Edward  Fitzclarence. 

It  is  curious,  after  the  stones  of  mystery  about 
Dorothy's  birth,  parentage,  and  death,  to  find  that 
there  were  no  mysteries,  only  commonplace  facts, 
covered  with  the  dust  of  time,  which  no  one  seems  to 
have  taken  the  trouble  to  disturb.  She  had  a  circle 
of  relatives  with  whom  she  mixed  when  she  had 
opportunity,  and  kept  in  touch  with  her  mother's 
relatives  in  Wales.  Thus,  some  time  after  her 


304     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

marriage  Lucy  Hawker  went  down  to  Trelethyn  for  a 
long  visit,  and  had  a  daughter  baptized  there.1 

Of  the  three  sons-in-law  Dorothy  best  liked  Edward 
March,  in  some  way  he  appealed  to  her,  and  she 
accompanied  her  liking  with  both  trust  and  respect, 
only  to  find  herself  treated  later  with  horrible  ingrati- 
tude, and  almost  incredible  cruelty. 

In  the  month  of  her  daughter's  marriage  a  bogus 
epitaph  upon  Dorothy  was  published  in  The  Monthly 
Mirror.  The  epitaph  in  itself  was  but  a  pun,  the 
comment  upon  it,  however,  was  so  painfully,  though 
unintentionally,  prophetic  that  it  gives  a  shock  to  the 
reader  aware  of  after  events — 

"When  in  a  MERRY  strain 

What  rare  delight  she  gave ! 
But  now  she  gives  us  pain, 
Because  she's  in  a  GRAVE." 

The  writer  followed  this  with  a  grumble  that  people 
would  not  die,  and  so  give  him  the  chance  of  exercis- 
ing his  art  of  epitaph-making,  and  added,  "  Mrs. 
Jordan  goes  to  Ireland  with  only,  as  Brutus  says, 
a  plank  between  her  and  eternity;  but — nothing 
happens.  Others  have  been  drowned  going  thither; 
some  women  kissed  to  death,  and  many  murdered 
there  in  more  expeditious  and  certain  ways,  but  no, 
nothing  happens  to  her.  Something  might  have  been 
expected  from  children,  but  as  they  grow  up  none  of 
them  vex  her  to  death — not  one — if  but  one  had  done 
it  I  should  have  been  contented." 

The  writer  had  not  many  years  to  wait  for  satisfac- 
tion, for  Mrs.  Alsop  did  her  best  to  grant  his  wish,  and 
Edward  March  contrived  to  get  it  fulfilled. 

In  January  1810  Dorothy  was  delighting  Manchester, 

1  Family  Letters. 


DOROTHY  JORDAN  AS  THE  COMIC  MUSE,  SUPPORTED  BY  EUPHROSVNE 

FROM    A    MEZZOTINT   BY   THOMAS   PARK,    AFTER   A 

TAINTING   UY  JOHN    HOPPNER,    R.A.,    IN   THE   AQUITANIA   COLLECTION 
OF   THE   CUNARL)   COMPANY 


Toil  and  Trouble  305 

closing  there  on  Saturday  the  2oth  and  playing  at 
Leeds  in  February.  There  she  received  a  curious 
letter  of  remonstrance  signed  by  several  professed 
Methodists,  which  testified  to  the  power  of  her  acting. 

She  was  solemnly  accused  of  holding  communication 
with  the  Wicked  One,  who  had  lent  her  charms,  spells, 
and  magic,  since,  as  they  alleged,  they  had  been 
tempted  against  their  will  to  go  to  the  Devil's  House 
six  times,  though  they  had  never  seen  a  play  before, 
and  hated  alF  such  abominations ;  that  she  had  thus 
spirited  the  money  out  of  their  pockets  and  induced 
them  to  neglect  their  families  and  employments.  The 
letter  concluded  with  a  serious  admonition  to  her  as 
she  appeared  to  have  a  soul  worth  saving,  to  give  up 
her  profession  and  intimacy  with  the  Wicked  One. 

As  to  the  charge  of  magic  spells,  etc.,  she  might 
fairly  in  answer  have  referred  to  her  natural  talents 
and  genuine  humour,  and  have  said  with  Othello, 
"  this  is  the  only  witchcraft  I  have  used." 

March  and  April  were  partly  absorbed  by  prepara- 
tion for  the  wedding,  and  though  she  was  acting 
practically  all  the  rest  of  the  year  the  information 
available  about  her  movements  is  but  scrappy.  In  the 
beginning  of  June  she  was  in  Edinburgh,  and  finish- 
ing there  on  the  2oth,  she  went  on  to  Glasgow,  where 
her  affectionate  heart  received  a  terrible  shock. 

The  Duke  of  Clarence's  summer  illness  came  on 
as  usual,  but  this  year  he  was  very  bad  indeed ;  so  bad, 
that  he  thought  death  was  at  hand,  and  sent  an  express 
messenger  to  the  north  to  summon  Dorothy.  The 
managers  of  the  theatre  most  nobly  "relinquished  all 
the  advantages  which  might  be  expected  from  the 
exertions  of  her  talents,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  immediately 
set  off  for  Bushy."  She  drove  night  and  day,  leaving 
u 


306     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

her  carriage  neither  to  eat  nor  to  sleep,  and  her  state 
of  mind  may  be  imagined.  But  on  arrival  at  Bushy 
she  found  the  Duke  slightly  better,  though  attended 
constantly  by  Doctors  Dundas  and  Blane. 

To  this  time  belongs  a  letter  from  Dorothy,  which 
Boaden  carelessly  places  a  year  and  a  half  later  after 
the  separation  had  been  effected.  Not  only  the  fact  of 
the  Duke's  illness,  but  the  allusions  to  the  "  very  great 
shock,"  and  to  "  two  Drury  Lanes  "  proves  this,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  circumstantial  evidence  that  they  would 
scarcely  have  been  inhabiting  the  same  house  on  such 
amicable  terms  after  Dorothy  had  received  her 
marching  orders. 

"  Dear  Sir,  Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  your  kind 
attention  to  my  request.  We  really  live  so  much  in 
the  country,  and  so  entirely  within  ourselves,  that  we 
might  be  dead  and  buried,  without  our  friends  knowing 
even  that  we  had  been  ill. 

"  I  have  the  heartfelt  happiness  of  informing  you 
that  the  Duke  is  considerably  better,  though  far  from 
being  as  we  could  wish.  However,  his  physicians 
have  given  His  Royal  Highness  permission  to  go  to 
town  to-morrow.  I  have  been  confined  ever  since  my 
return,  owing  to  the  fatigue  and  anxiety  I  have  gone 
through.  I  fear  it  will  be  some  time  before  I  recover 
the  very  great  shock  I  received.  I  hear  there  are  to  be 
two  Drury  Lanes,  I  believe  just  as  likely  as  one. 
Yours  ever, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

To  this  illness,  which  must  temporarily  have  caused 
Clarence  to  see  things  with  clearer  vision,  is  to  be  attri- 
buted the  announcement  that  this  coming  season  of 
1 810-181 1  was  to  be  the  very  last  in  which  Mrs.  Jordan 


Toil  and  Trouble  307 

would  be  seen  on  the  stage,  an  announcement  which 
was  made  in  the  papers  of  July.  That  decision  arrived 
at,  the  Duke,  as  soon  as  he  was  well  enough,  set  to  work 
to  map  out  her  winter  travels  and  make  the  very  best 
terms  possible  for  her.  Dorothy  was  probably  very 
happy  for  a  month  or  two  that  summer,  forgetting  the 
old  proverb  which  tells  how  when  the  devil  was  sick 
the  devil  a  monk  would  be,  but  that  the  devil  when  well 
the  devil  a  monk  was  he.  The  very  thing  which  had 
brought  her  and  the  man  she  loved  closer  together, 
was  also  the  first  step  towards  their  parting;  for  the 
Queen,  that  masterful  and  often  hard-hearted  mother, 
had  been  upset  by  her  son's  illness.  For  years  he  had 
been  practically  in  disgrace,  and  rarely  included  in  any 
Court  festivities;  now,  however,  the  Queen  began  to 
invite  him  to  Windsor  and  to  Buckingham  House,  and 
actually,  in  August,  went  to  the  length  of  celebrating 
his  birthday  as  a  family  festival  at  Frogmore  House, 
where  she  resided  when  at  Windsor.  She  had 
probably  at  last  come  to  the  somewhat  obvious  conclu- 
sion that  the  worst  way  of  convicting  him  of  folly  was 
by  closing  the  doors  upon  him,  and  the  best  way  of 
weaning  him  from  his  companion  of  eighteen  years  was 
to  separate  them  by  bringing  him  back  into  the  Royal 
circle.  His  sister  Amelia,  too,  was  desperately  ill  all 
through  this  autumn,  and  so  from  one  cause  and 
another  Clarence  was  thenceforward  constantly  at 
Windsor,  sharing  in  all  fetes  and  brought  directly 
under  the  influence  of  the  Queen. 

The  enigmatic  observation  in  Dorothy's  letter  of 
two  Drury  Lanes  refers  to  a  managerial  idea  that  the 
public  had  so  increased  that  there  was  room  for  two 
new  theatres  under  the  one  management.  There  had 
been  whispers  about  this  during  the  past  autumn,  but 


308     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

it  was  just  being  discussed  openly  when  the  letter  was 
written. 

In  August  1810,  Dorothy  was  faced  with  the  fact 
that  managers  were  beginning  to  think  they  ought  to 
get  her  services  on  terms  more  advantageous  to  them- 
selves, and  she  had  a  discussion  with  the  Richmond 
people  which  drew  an  ultimatum  from  her — 

"  I  must  either  decline  performing  at  Richmond  or 
do  so  on  the  old  terms,  twenty  guineas  per  night  for  six 
nights,  paying  you  twenty  for  the  seventh;  twice  a 
week;  the  time  from  the  loth  or  i2th  of  August. 
You  arranging  the  plays  and  prices  yourself  and 
directing  the  business,  or  I  must  decline  it  altogether." 

Whether  the  Richmond  manager  climbed  down  I 
do  not  know,  but  shortly  after  she  was  endeavouring 
to  arrange  that  her  farewell  should  be  given  from  the 
stage  of  Covent  Garden  early  in  1811,  at  the  large 
salary  of  £100  a  night.  However,  the  management 
thought  the  terms  excessive  and  in  spite  of  the 
following  letter  the  matter  hung  fire  for  a  time. 

"Bushy,  Friday. 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  presents  her  compliments  to  Mr. 
Henry  Harris.  A  long  engagement  in  London  being 
an  object  of  moment  to  her,  on  reflection,  Mrs.  Jordan 
thinks  that  a  few  nights  (  which  she  first  mentioned  to 
Mr.  Harris)  would  not  answer  her  purpose  or  that  of 
her  employers.  Mr.  Wroughton,  an  old  friend  of  hers, 
has  at  her  request  kindly  undertaken  to  present  this, 
and  being  in  possession  of  her  ideas  and  expectations 
on  this  occasion  has  full  power  to  negotiate  for  her. 
Mrs.  Jordan  is  quitting  Bushy  on  Monday,  remaining 
absent  near  two  months." 

Thomas  Harris,  the  proprietor  and  manager  of 
Covent  Garden,  being  away  ill  at  Brighton  explains 


Toil  and  Trouble  309 

the  fact  of  the  letter  being  addressed  to  a  junior 
member  of  the  family.  The  two  months'  absence  to 
which  the  letter  refers  was  occupied  in  touring,  and 
as  far  as  Dorothy  believed  in  saying  farewell  to  the 
towns  which  she  had  known  in  the  height  of  her  powers. 
She  started  at  Cheltenham  in  September,  and  though 
it  is  not  possible  to  give  a  list  of  the  places  she  visited, 
I  find  her  at  Liverpool,  "  acting  with  as  much  spirit 
as  ever  she  did,"  in  October,  and  at  Hull,  where  she 
was  judged  as  too  matronly  both  in  figure  and  manner, 
but  "  in  characters  of  a  ripened  age,"  such  as  Widow 
Cheerly,  Lady  Bell,  Widow  Belmour,  and  Mrs.  Sullen 
(a  part  which  she  had  once  before  played  and  then 
vowed  she  would  never  play  again)  "  she  exacted 
universal  admiration."  In  December  she  was  at 
Manchester. 

It  is  pathetic  to  think  that  this  dear,  hard-worked 
woman — driven  by  necessity — was  tramping  the  weary 
round  of  the  principal  theatres  for  two  or  three  months 
at  a  time  when  she  was  longing  for  rest  and  the  natural 
reward  of  her  many  years  of  exertion,  and  it  is  horrible 
to  realize  that  a  man  whose  absolutely  assured  income 
— to  say  nothing  of  other  emoluments — was  £18,000  a 
year  was  urging  her  on  to  work,  arranging  her  tours, 
and  receiving  money  from  her  in  almost  every  letter 
she  wrote  him.  That  this  was  so,  can  be  absolutely 
proved  by  the  letters  of  Dorothy's  to  the  Duke  penned 
at  this  period. 

She  would  have  worked  herself  to  death  for  him, 
and  was  giving  him  everything  that  she  could,  for  she 
knew  that  the  idea  of  separation  was  only  scotched, 
not  dead,  and  as  the  Duke's  debts  accumulated  she 
saw  the  end  of  all  happiness  approaching  unless  she 
could  do  something  to  hold  it. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    SEPARATION 

"  O  unfortunate  woman  !  A  combination  against  my  honour  !  which 
most  concerns  me  now,  because  you  share  in  my  disgrace,  sir." — From 
The  Country  Wife,  by  WYCHERLEY. 

"Therefore,  my  noble  lord,  have  a  little  patience,  we'll  go  and 
look  over  our  deeds  and  settlements  immediately." — From  A  Trip  to 
Scarborough. 

"  If  you  should  get  a  wife,  I  trust, 
You'll  prove  to  her  a  little  just ; 
Prove  to  her  love  more  true  and  fond, 
Than  when  you  stole  poor  Jordan's  bond." 

PETER  PINDAR,  Jun. 

THE  list  of  engagements  with  which  the  last  chapter 
ended  effectually  disproves  the  statement,  based  upon 
the  careless  assertions  of  the  early  biographers,  that 
Dorothy  lived  a  purely  domestic  and  happy  connubial 
life  through  1810,  and  that  for  some  peculiar  and 
hidden  reason  she  returned  to  the  stage  for  a  solitary 
engagement  in  Bath  in  February  1811.  Also  the  new 
light  thrown  by  her  letters  upon  the  Duke's  attitude 
and  action  concerning  these  engagements  disprove  the 
common  statement  that  Dorothy  had  such  a  hankering 
after  the  boards  that  she  simply  could  not  keep  off  them, 
though  the  Duke  was  always  begging  her  to  retire. 

As  was  1810  so  was  1811;  indeed,  in  one  essential 
it  was  worse,  for  while  Dorothy  was  laughing  on  the 
stage  for  money,  Clarence  was  courting  a  girl  of 
twenty-two  for  money.  The  apologists  for  the  Duke 
declare  that  in  asserting  these  things  writers  were 
eager  to  present  him  in  an  unfavourable  light,  and 
stated  what  they  could  not  prove,  and  that  no  letters 
existed  to  clear  up  vexed  points. 

310 


The  Separation  3 1 1 

Well !  many  letters  exist  to  prove  many  things,  and 
there  is  the  evidence,  sometimes  unconsciously  given, 
in  newspapers,  and  the  circumstantial  evidence 
gathered  from  a  careful  comparison  of  events,  all  of 
which  tend  to  show  that  the  princely  Duke  is  smirched 
and  dishonoured  by  his  treatment  of  Dorothy  during 
the  last  years  of  her  life.  The  mantle  of  Queen 
Charlotte,  the  enemy  of  her  own  sex,  had  fallen  upon 
him;  he  not  only  used  his  wife,  for  she  was  that  by 
every  natural  law,  to  his  own  advantage,  but  threw  her 
aside  with  a  callous  cynicism  that  was  foreign  to  his 
character.  He  did  the  actual  deed  with  tears,  he  so 
reasoned  with  her  as  to  make  her  believe  that  it  was 
vitally  necessary,  and  afterwards  she  followed  his 
dishonourable  career  with  a  pitying  love,  resolutely 
refusing  ever  to  speak  against  him. 

"  Had  he  left  me  to  starve  I  never  would  have 
uttered  a  word  to  his  disadvantage !  "  was  her 
passionate  exclamation. 

In  later  years,  when  Adelaide  had  rescued  him  from 
the  mud,  the  character  given  him  was  that  of  a  kind, 
affectionate,  passionate  and  often  stupid  man;  one 
who  in  anger  would  swear  at  a  clergyman  or  hold  a 
relative  up  to  public  ridicule;  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
soft-hearted  and  anxious  not  to  inflict  pain.  But  his 
treatment  of  Dorothy  this  year  shows  an  absence  of 
feeling,  which  reflects  the  character  of  the  Queen. 
The  public  records  of  his  movements  at  this  time  prove 
that  he  was  constantly  in  touch  with  his  mother,  that 
all  through  his  negotiations  with  Miss  Tylney  Long, 
the  heiress,  he  was  dining  at  Windsor  and  leaving 
there  for  Bushy  the  same  night.  He  was  there  con- 
stantly while  arranging  his  separation  with  Dorothy, 
and  was  in  consultation  with  the  Queen  a  night  or  two 


312     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

before  he  followed  Miss  Long  to  Ramsgate.  Thus  it 
is  scarcely  possible,  knowing  how  much  Charlotte  dis- 
liked his  connection  with  Dorothy  by  this  time,  and 
how  acquisitive  she  was,  not  to  suspect  that  the  Queen's 
influence  was  strong  upon  him,  and  that  she  was  fully 
conversant  with  his  intentions  towards  the  heiress. 

However,  to  follow  events  as  they  happened.  In 
January  1811  Dorothy  again  went  to  Bristol,  and  on 
the  22nd  she  began  a  ten  nights'  engagement  at  Bath, 
acting  every  second  night  in  her  usual  characters. 
Though  her  movements  in  the  provinces  were  not  much 
chronicled,  she  afterwards  acted  at  various  places;  it 
is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  she  only  performed  when 
Boaden  mentions  it,  for  it  was  usually  only  when  some- 
thing notable  happened  at  this  or  that  town  that  her 
presence  there  was  recorded,  such  as  the  tragic  incident 
of  Cheltenham  this  year. 

In  June  she  came  forward  for  the  first  time  in  the 
new  Covent  Garden  at  a  benefit,  "  and  she  never  gave 
the  character  of  Peggy  with  more  vivacity,  nor  was 
ever  received  with  warmer  applause."  Her  reception 
was,  in  fact,  so  wildly  enthusiastic  that  the  manager 
of  the  theatre  suddenly  awoke  to  the  fact  that  she  was 
worth  her  own  price,  and  offered  her  an  engagement 
for  July  at  £100  a  night.  So  on  July  2  she  began  a  series 
of  ten  performances,  acting  three  times  a  week,  and 
being  welcomed  by  many  congratulatory  and  affection- 
ate comments  in  the  papers.  On  the  i  ith  of  the  month, 
when  The  Way  to  Keep  Him  was  the  play,  and  "  the 
elegant,  the  accomplished  Widow  Belmour  was  person- 
ated by  Mrs.  Jordan,"  there  was  a  chorus  of  praise  over 
the  manner  in  which  she  delivered  her  rules  for  the 
keeping  of  a  husband ;  the  following  passage  receiving 
three  rounds  of  applause — 


The  Separation  313 

"  To  win  a  heart  is  easy — to  keep  it  is  the  difficulty. 
After  the  fatal  words,  '  for  better  for  worse,'  women 
relax  into  indolence,  and,  while  they  are  guilty  of  no 
infidelity,  they  think  everything  safe.  But  they  are 
mistaken  and  a  great  deal  is  wanting;  an  address,  a 
vivacity,  a  desire  to  please ;  the  agreeable  contrast ;  the 
sense  that  pleases,  the  little  folly  that  charms." 

How  men  have  always  loved  think  that  they  loved 
"  the  little  folly  that  charms,"  and  how  many  a  woman 
in  the  past  has  received  black  eyes  and  a  beating  for 
trying  to  display  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  real  man 
hates  folly,  hates  a  woman  to  affect  it  and  hates  still 
more  that  a  woman  should  really  possess  it;  the  only 
thing  that  he  does  like  about  it  is  the  hidden  sentiment 
behind  the  words,  the  idea  that  a  woman  will  conde- 
scend even  to  folly  that  she  may  prove  him  the  superior, 
and  even  this  is  the  characteristic  of  a  weak  man  only. 

Poor  Dorothy  might  well  utter  this  passage  with 
"  inimitable  effect,"  for  her  attempts  "  to  keep  him  " 
by  loyalty  and  hard  work  had  not  been  successful,  and 
she  may  have  wondered  whether  a  "  little  folly  "  would 
not  have  been  more  efficacious.  She  was  struggling 
with  all  her  strength  against  impossible  odds,  for  the 
money  she  could  dribble  into  the  ducal  purse  was  gone 
before  it  was  received.  Barrington  pompously  and 
solemnly  vows  that  she  earned  £7000  the  last  year  of 
her  acting.  Even  if  she  had  in  1811  earned  anything 
like  that,  it  would  have  been  of  no  use  to  a  man  who 
had  a  determined  eye  on  a  much  larger  income. 

From  Covent  Garden  Dorothy  went  in  August  to 
Leeds  and  to  York ;  back  to  York !  the  town  where 
Gentleman  Smith  had  so  often  watched  her  and  where 
she  and  Tate  Wilkinson,  now  dead,  had  so  often 
quarrelled.  After  that  she  may  have  taken  Richmond, 


314     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

but  Margate  was  not  visited  that  summer.  The  fare- 
well winter  season  had  stretched  through  the  spring 
and  summer  to  August  and  September,  and  she  was 
still  acting  without  a  break,  though  from  time  to  time 
the  public  were  reminded  that  her  last  visits  were 
being  made. 

The  relations  between  the  Duke  and  Dorothy  were 
very  strained  this  summer,  and  it  is  probable  that  they 
were  not  often  at  Bushy  House  at  the  same  time,  and 
when  they  were  they  quarrelled. 

The  Great  Illegitimates  affirms  that  by  this  time 
"unpleasant  bickering  frequently  occurred;  that  the 
children  of  our  actress  were  estranged  from  her,  and 
as  pecuniary  resources  failed,  a  palpable  coldness  and 
total  neglect  became  apparent  in  a  certain  quarter. 
We  do  not  pretend  to  deny  that  a  want  of  money  might 
be  experienced  by  one  individual,  but  we  are  by  no 
means  enabled  to  account  for  such  a  deficiency  in 
another  quarter  .  .  .  that  she  did  begin  to  feel 
pecuniary  embarrassment  is  a  notorious  fact,  the  solu- 
tion of  which  some  persons  perhaps  may  shrewdly 
surmise,  notwithstanding  all  varnish  used  to  gloss  over 
and  mystify  the  fact." 

The  report  of  one  fateful  quarrel  was  preserved  by 
Frances  Alsop,  who  was  in  the  room  at  the  time, 
Dorothy  being  at  work  on  a  little  wool  rug  designed 
for  wrapping  round  a  tea-urn.  Clarence  had  by  then 
made  up  his  mind  concerning  his  future,  but  the  way 
in  which  he  conveyed  his  plans  to  Dorothy  seem  to 
have  been  more  the  result  of  irritation  than  of  a 
determined  plan.  I  quote  the  passage  from  The  Great 
Illegitimates — 

"  Some  altercation  taking  place,  and  words  growing 
high,  the  unfortunate  lady,  in  the  irritation  of  the 


The  Separation  315 

moment  arising  from  wounded  pride  and  indignant 
feelings,  threw  the  rug  at  the  head  of  her  friend,  which 
piece  of  workmanship  we  have  recently  had  in  our 
hands.  We  give  this  as  one  of  the  statements  fre- 
quently reiterated  by  Mrs.  Alsop,  which  becomes  the 
more  valuable  as  tending  to  confirm  the  statement  we 
have  previously  made  respecting  the  real  cause  of  Mrs. 
Jordan's  separation  from  her  protector  [the  courting 
of  Miss  Long]."  Mrs.  Alsop  would  scarcely  have 
invented  this  story,  and  I  have  proved  several  times 
the  truth  of  incidents  given  in  this  book  from  corro- 
borative evidence  in  contemporary  biographies. 

Dorothy,  seeing  what  was  before  her,  yet  hoping  to 
avert  her  fate,  placed  every  obstacle  in  the  Duke's 
way,  and  declared  her  determination  not  to  be  cast  out 
into  beggary.  She  had  her  bond,  drawn  up  in  1791, 
and  that  should  be  kept  to  the  letter.  She  herself 
must  have  failed  to  see  how  Clarence  could  possibly 
carry  out  its  provisions,  and  perhaps  hoped  thus  to 
stave  off  the  final  separation.  Her  future  was  impos- 
sible to  contemplate;  her  best  days  were  past,  each 
year  lessened  her  chance  of  making  an  income,  her 
promises  to  her  three  daughters  had  not  been  re- 
deemed, and  she  was  often  ill  and  incapable  of 
acting.  Thus  she  could  only  anticipate  an  old  age 
of  want. 

Concerning  the  bond  there  is  a  story  told  that  the 
Duke  contrived  by  some  means  to  get  it  from  her  and 
keep  it.  It  is  alluded  to  by  many  writers,  and  one 
hints  at  it  in  the  following — 

"  In  regard  to  the  thousand  pound  settlement,  such 
things  have  been  heard  of  as  procuring  the  loan  of  a 
bond  under  specious  pretences,  and  never  returning 
the  same.  Transactions  of  this  nature  will  sometimes 


316     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

occur  in  families,  as  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Robinson 
could  testify  was  she  still  in  existence."  l 

Boaden  does  not  mention  it,  but  he  admits  that  "  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  she  might  have  placed  some  part 
of  her  fortune  at  the  temporary  disposition  of  her  noble 
friend,"  which  for  such  a  royalist  was  a  serious  admis- 
sion. The  evidence,  however,  points  to  the  conclusion 
that,  whatever  the  Duke  tried  in  this  way,  Dorothy 
retained  possession  of  the  document. 

It  was  money,  money,  money  which  caused  the 
separation,  she  said,  and  some  people  who  want  money 
will  sell  their  souls  for  it.  The  Duke  would  have  been 
horrified  at  such  a  suggestion,  and  yet  he  was  prepared 
to  go  a  long  distance  in  a  transaction  of  the  sort.  For 
by  this  time  it  was  an  open  secret  that  he  was  paying 
court,  not  so  much  to  a  young  commoner,  as  to  her 
fortune. 

Two  years  earlier,  when  Dorothy's  heart  was  break- 
ing over  the  vile  calumnies  which  were  being  spread 
abroad  concerning  her,  that  is  in  April  1809,  a  certain 
lady  arrived  in  London  with  her  household,  announc- 
ing that  arrival  to  her  friends  by  sending  out  invita- 
tions to  a  sumptuous  party  in  Grosvenor  Square  This 
was  Lady  Catherine  Tylney  Long,  widow  of  Sir  James 
Tylney  Long,  who  had  brought  her  two  daughters  up 
to  town  for  the  season.  The  ball  was  opened  by  her 
eldest  daughter  Catherine  dancing  with  the  Marquis 
of  Tweeddale,  and  though  there  were  many  notabilities 
present  the  Duke  of  Clarence  was  not  among  them. 
In  October  1810  Catherine  came  of  age,  being  one  of 
the  richest  girls  in  England,  the  daily  papers  crediting 
her  with  landed  property  which  brought  her  a  rental  of 

1  Perdita,  whom  the  Regent  kept  by  means  of  a  bond,  the  conditions 
of  which  he  never  fulfilled. 


The  Separation  317 

£73,000,  and  an  accumulation  of  £350,000  in  money, 
making  her  yearly  income  as  much  as  £93,000.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  she  had  £40,000  a  year,  and  she  neces- 
sarily had  also  such  a  train  of  applicants  for  this 
fortune — with  herself  thrown  in — that  she  hardly  knew 
some  of  the  individuals  which  composed  it.  Yet  for 
nearly  three  years  after  her  first  introduction  into 
London  she  remained  single.  As  her  name  spread 
the  attention  of  the  Royal  Dukes  was  attracted,  and 
Clarence  decided  that  in  her  lay  his  salvation.  In  this 
belief  he  was  encouraged  by  his  brother  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  who,  on  his  becoming  Regent,  was  said  to  be 
ready  to  use  all  his  influence  to  get  the  Marriage  Act 
repealed  for  the  purpose. 

The  Duke  proposed  to  Miss  Long  in  the  summer 
of  1811,  and  was  refused;  but  he  by  no  means  lost 
heart — not  imagining  that  a  commoner  could  sniff  at 
a  Royal  Duke ;  and  he  continued  to  endeavour  to  put 
Dorothy  out  of  his  life,  one  method  being  to  declare 
his  intention  of  giving  up  Bushy  House.  He  also 
wrote  to  Miss  Long  making  a  renewed  declaration  of 
his  love,  and  she  "  wrote  him  a  very  proper  letter  in 
answer,  declining  the  honour  in  the  most  decided 
terms,"  says  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  in  his  Memoirs 
of  the  Court  of  England  during  the  Regency. 

Meanwhile,  Dorothy  went  to  Cheltenham  about  the 
1 6th  of  September,  to  act  ten  times  as  usual,  on 
alternate  nights.  Her  engagement  ended,  but  it  hap- 
pened she  had  promised  to  act  one  night  more  to  swell 
the  benefit  receipts  of  the  manager,  Watson.  William 
Oxberry,  who  was  at  the  theatre  that  night  and  who 
naturally  knew  nothing  of  what  had  gone  before,  gave 
an  account  of  the  incident  in  his  Dramatic  Biography, 
which  conveyed  the  impression  that  Dorothy  received 


318     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

then  the  first  hint  of  an  intended  separation.  The 
Duke  believing  her  engagement  ended  sent  her  a  letter 
that  afternoon  by  the  hand  of  .General  Charitie,  his 
personal  friend  and  confidant,  said  Edward  Stirling, 
asking  her  to  go  straight  from  Cheltenham  to  Maiden- 
head finally  to  arrange  the  terms  of  their  parting. 

So  at  last  the  blow  had  actually  fallen,  at  last  hope 
was  really  dead,  and  Dorothy  felt  all  the  anguish  of 
total  loss.  Boaden  says  she  had  a  succession  of  faint- 
ing fits,  and  Oxberry  says  she  became  frantic  and  had 
hysterics,  but  they  could  only  know  anything  about  the 
receipt  of  the  letter  from  hearsay;  Stirling  also  is  so 
thoroughly  wrong  in  all  the  facts  he  gives  about  her — 
that  the  Duke  left  her  to  marry  Adelaide,  for  instance 
— that  it  practically  remains  for  our  own  imagination 
to  determine  as  to  how  she  received  the  news.  She 
was  not  a  fainting  woman,  but  she  may  have  fainted, 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  she  was  hysterical.  What- 
ever she  felt  she  refused  to  entertain  the  idea  of  giving 
up  the  performance  that  night  and  duly  appeared  on 
the  stage. 

One  pathetic  incident  marked  the  evening  in  a  scene 
where  she  should  have  been  accused  by  a  character 
named  Jobson  of  having  been  made  laughing  drunk. 
The  poor  thing  tried  to  laugh  at  her  cue,  and  instead 
burst  into  tears,  upon  which  keen-witted  Jobson  said — 

"Why,  Nell,  the  conjuror  has  not  only  made  thee 
drunk,  he  has  made  thee  crying  drunk." 

The  fact  that  the  Duke  had  expected  her  to  leave 
Cheltenham  that  day,  and  would  await  her  at  a  certain 
time  caused  Dorothy  to  have  a  travelling  carriage 
ready  at  the  stage  door  as  soon  as  the  play  was  over, 
into  which  she  got  without  even  stopping  to  change 
her  theatrical  clothes. 


The  Separation  319 

Given  baldly  this  sounds  rather  unbalanced,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  she  would  have  her  maid 
with  her,  and  that  a  travelling  coach  was  quite  com- 
modious enough  to  be,  and  indeed  often  was,  used  as 
a  dressing-room.  Thus  Dorothy  had  no  intention  of 
doing  her  whole  journey  or  of  appearing  in  Maiden- 
head as  Nell. 

The  interview,  which  must  have  been  painful 
enough,  took  place,  but  with  little  tangible  result,  as 
Dorothy  refused  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by 
Clarence,  but  what  those  terms  were  no  one  knows. 
This  summons  was  not  as  is  always  represented  the 
first  hint  Dorothy  had  of  a  separation,  nor  was  the 
matter  settled  then  by  any  means.  It  just  happened 
that  Oxberry  heard  the  story  of  the  summons  while  at 
Cheltenham,  and  so,  this  one  incident  being  definitely 
known,  biographers  leapt  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
the  only  incident  in  the  whole  affair. 

The  Duke  went  back  to  Bushy  House  after  seeing 
Dorothy,  and  was  there  during  the  whole  of  the  next 
week,  perhaps  longer,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  Dorothy 
went  with  him,  as  there  was  still  much  to  arrange. 
Whatever  their  separate  movements  the  discussion  as 
to  terms  was  prolonged  until  December. 

In  October  Miss  Long,  with  her  little  court,  went 
to  Ramsgate,  and  the  Duke  with  George,  his  son, 
then  Captain  Fitzclarence,  was  staying  in  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Margate,  it  being  said  that  they 
intended  to  make  "  a  tour  round  the  island."  How- 
ever, Clarence  wanted  advice,  so  he  turned  from  there 
westward  instead  of  southward,  and  on  the  22nd  was 
dining  with  his  mother  at  Windsor,  starting  a  day  or 
two  later  for  Ramsgate  in  the  wake  of  Miss  Long. 

Whether    his   royal    parent    had    given   him    carte 


320     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

blanche,  or  whether  it  was  his  own  idea,  this  impecuni- 
ous person  began  to  make  a  great  splash  at  Ramsgate, 
fitting  up  the  warm  baths  in  a  very  elegant  manner  for 
the  benefit  of  the  town,  entirely  at  his  own  expense; 
holding  on  the  28th  a  great  review  of  the  Somerset 
Regiment  of  Militia,  at  which  the  number  of  fashion- 
able spectators  was  very  great,  and  giving  the  same 
evening  a  grand  ball  to  two  hundred  friends,  Miss 
Long  being  the  object  of  all  this. 

That  which  condemned  Clarence  above  everything, 
both  his  good  heart  and  his  wit,  was  that  being  on  such 
a  quest  he  took  with  him  Dorothy's  eldest  daughter 
Sophia,  who  was  then  either  fourteen  or  nineteen, 
probably  the  latter.  That  summer  she  had  come  out 
in  Court  circles  under  her  father's  protection  at  the 
Carlton  House  fete,  that  magnificent  party  by  which 
the  Regent,  with  execrable  taste,  celebrated  the  hope- 
less illness  of  his  father  and  his  own  accession  to 
power.  Sophia  was  reported  the  next  day  in  the  usual 
newspaper  phrase  as  being  "  an  amiable  and  highly 
accomplished  young  lady."  All  through  the  summer 
this  young  girl  was  by  Clarence's  side,  hearing  him 
discuss  her  mother  with  the  people  he  visited,  and 
watching  him — perhaps  sympathizing  with  his  endeav- 
ours— when  he  courted  Miss  Long.  Can  anything 
more  heartless  on  a  man's  part  be  imagined,  and  is  it 
to  be  wondered  that  Dorothy's  girl,  thus  tutored,  left 
her  mother  to  die  and  did  not  even  see  that  her  body 
was  given  a  decent  grave? 

Miss  Tylney  Long  was  an  independent  young 
person,  and  she  could  not  have  found  it  an  added 
attraction  in  the  Duke  that  he  should  thus  flaunt  his 
family  before  her  eyes,  and  keep  in  her  mind  the 
woman  who  had  lived  with  him  for  twenty  years. 


The  Separation  321 

Though  she  was  not  an  actress,  she  was  a  commoner, 
and  when  she  considered  she  could  surely  see  little 
security  for  herself  in  such  a  marriage,  so  she  refused 
the  Duke's  offers  again  and  again. 

Most  of  the  biographers  assert  that  the  Tylney  Long 
affair  had  no  foundation  excepting  in  gossip ;  but  they 
wished  to  think  that  and  looked  for  no  evidence. 
Boaden,  true  to  his  conception  of  royalty  as  something 
immaculate  and  divine,  says — 

"  If  this  were  ever  a  matter  of  deliberation  in  the 
royal  mind,  I  am  quite  sure  it  was  rejected  upon 
principle,  and  every  notion  of  such  a  thing  was  soon 
closed  by  the  union  of  the  wealthy  heiress  in  March 
1812  with  Mr.  Wellesley  Pole,  the  son  of  Lord 
Maryborough." 

However,  solid  fact  is  more  valuable  than  virtuous 
suppositions,  and  in  a  letter  written  on  November  3, 
1811,  by  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Calvert,1  we  find  "The  Duke 
has  proposed  for  Miss  Long,  the  great  heiress,  and  has 
promised  that  the  Regent  will  get  the  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment repealed  which  prevents  the  Royal  Family 
marrying  subjects.  She  has  refused  him,  but  still 
encourages  him,  and  some  think  it  will  be  a  match." 

A  fortnight  later  she  wrote — 

'  The  Duke  of  Clarence  and  his  daughter  have  been 
paying  Lady  Darnley  a  visit.  He  told  her  that  he  had 
proposed  for  Miss  Long  and  had  been  refused,  but  he 
did  not  despair,  for  he  felt  sure  that  the  tenth  time  he 
would  be  accepted.  Lady  Darnley  says  Miss  Long  is 
a  very  high  young  lady,  *  Set  her  up,  say  I !  '  The 
Duke  is  going  to  part  with  Mrs.  Jordan." 

From  this  we  see  that  the  rupture  between  Dorothy 
and  Clarence  had  not  until  then,  November  18,  been 

1  An  Irish  Beauty  of  the  Regency^  by  Mrs.  Warenne  Blake. 
x 


322     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

talked  of  generally,  though  it  was  known  at  Richmond, 
and  this  note  also  proves  the  fallacy  of  the  idea  that  the 
summons  from  Cheltenham  marked  the  total  severance 
of  all  connection  between  the  two.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
Dorothy  was  at  that  time  at  Bushy  House,  and  there 
was  still  considerable  trouble  over  the  negotiations, 
which  were  being  carried  on  by  John  Barton  for  the 
Prince,  and  General  Samuel  Hawker  for  Mrs.  Jordan. 
The  Duke  of  Buckingham  throws  some  light  on  the 
situation — 

"  After  his  (the  Duke  of  Clarence)  arrival  (at  Rams- 
gate)  he  proposed  three  or  four  times  more;  upon  his 
return  to  town  he  sent  her  an  abstract  of  the  Royal 
Marriage  Act,  altered,  as  he  said  it  had  been  agreed 
to  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  whom  he  had  consulted, 
and  also  conveyed  the  Queen's  best  wishes  and  regards 
— to  neither  of  whom  had  he  said  one  single  word  on 
the  subject." 

Now  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  a  great  friend  of 
the  Prince  Regent's,  and  the  Prince,  being  a  moral 
coward,  usually — not  to  state  it  too  bluntly — said  that 
which  was  most  convenient  at  the  moment,  so  Bucking- 
ham's accusation  against  Clarence's  truthfulness  must 
not  be  taken  literally.  Circumstances  point  to  his 
having  been  quite  truthful  on  this  matter.  Bucking- 
ham gives  further  information,  this  time  about 
Dorothy,  saying  that  on  Clarence's  return  to  town 
from  Ramsgate  he  proposed  that  Dorothy  should  keep 
half  the  children  and  he  would  allow  her  ^800  a  year. 

"  But  she  is  most  stout  in  rejecting  all  compromise, 
till  he  has  paid  her  what  he  owes  her ;  she  stating  that 
during  the  twenty  years  she  has  lived  with  him  he  has 
constantly  received  and  spent  all  her  earnings  by 
acting,  and  that  she  is  now  a  beggar,  by  living  with 


The  Separation  323 

and  at  times  supporting  him.  This  she  repeats  to  all 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bushy,  where  she  remains  and 
is  determined  to  continue." 

This  is  the  only  reference  I  have  come  across  of 
Dorothy  ever  speaking  a  word  against  the  Duke,  and 
seeing  the  state  of  mind  to  which  she  was  reduced  it 
is  not  wonderful  that  she  was  momentarily  and  out- 
wardly bitter. 

Though  she  knew  that  Clarence  was  wishing  to 
marry  Catherine  Long,  she  did  not  know  all  the  details 
of  the  affair,  and  her  friends  soon  repaired  this  omis- 
sion. It  was,  however,  left  to  that  arch  mischief-maker, 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  "who  must  interfere  in 
everything,"  to  give  her  a  full  account  of  what  hap- 
pened at  Ramsgate.  She  was  furious,  and  wrote 
Clarence  a  furious  letter.  Buckingham  says  that  she 
also  wrote  an  acknowledgment  to  Cumberland,  and 
that  in  the  agitation  of  the  moment  she  made  the  usual 
fatal  mistake,  of  directing  the  letters  wrongly.  The 
result  was  a  great  quarrel  between  the  brothers,  and 
really  between  two  such  men,  both  delighting  in  bad 
language,  it  would  certainly  have  been  a  lively  scene. 

The  Duke  of  Cumberland  seems  to  have  taken  a 
great  interest  in  the  proceedings,  for  on  October  n, 
between  the  meeting  at  Maidenhead  and  the  Rams- 
gate  visit  Dorothy  wrote  to  Clarence  :  "  The  Duke  of 
Cumberland  has  been  here  for  the  last  two  hours, 
expressing  the  strongest  friendship  for  me,  and  hoping 
that  I  should  not  go  into  the  country  again,  but  make 
a  permanent  engagement  in  London.  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  spoke  from  higher  authority  than  his  own, 
but  he  seemed  very  strenuous  on  the  subject,  he 
appeared  quite  at  a  loss  for  your  going." 

It  was  later  than  this  that  Dorothy  wrote  a  long 


324     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

letter  to  her  Confidential  friend,  a  letter  in  which  she 
shows  a  brave  front  to  the  world,  making  the  very  best 
of  the  Duke's  conduct,  trying  to  console  her  wounded 
heart  with  the  superficial  praise  and  promises  lavished 
upon  her  by  the  Regent  and  the  Royal  Family, 
and  betraying  the  lengths  to  which  her  self-sacrifice 
could  go. 

"  Bushy,  Saturday. 
"  MY   DEAR    SlR, 

"  I  received  yours  and  its  enclosure  safe  this 
morning.  My  mind  is  becoming  somewhat  reconciled 
to  the  shock  and  surprise  it  has  lately  received,  for 
could  you  or  the  world  believe  that  we  have  never  had 
for  twenty  years  the  semblance  of  a  quarrel,  but  this  is 
so  well  known  in  our  domestic  circle  that  the  aston- 
ishment is  greater !  Money,  money,  my  good  friend, 
or  the  want  of  it,  has,  I  am  convinced,  made  him  at 
this  moment  the  most  wretched  of  men,  but  having 
done  wrong  he  does  not  like  to  retract,  but  with  all  his 
excellent  qualities,  and  his  domestic  virtues,  his  love 
for  his  lovely  children,  what  must  he  not  at  this 
moment  suffer!  His  distress  should  have  been 
relieved  before,  but  this  is  entre  nous. 

"All  his  letters  are  full  of  the  most  unqualified 
praise  of  my  conduct,  and  it  is  a  heartfelt  blessing  to 
know  and  feel  that  to  the  best  of  my  power  I  have 
endeavoured  to  deserve  it. 

"  I  have  received  the  greatest  kindness  and  atten- 
tion from  the  Regent  and  every  branch  of  the  Royal 
Family,  who  in  the  most  unreserved  terms  deplore  this 
melancholy  business,  the  whole  correspondence  is 
before  the  Regent,  and  I  am  proud  to  add  that  my 
past  and  present  conduct  has  secured  me  a  friend  who 


The  Separation  325 

declares  he  never  will  forsake  me,  my  forbearance,  he 
says,  is  beyond  what  he  could  have  imagined ;  but  what 
will  not  a  woman  do,  who  is  firmly  and  sincerely 
attached — had  he  left  me  to  starve  I  would  never  have 
uttered  a  word  to  his  disadvantage.  I  enclose  you  two 
other  letters,  and  in  a  day  or  two  you  shall  see  more, 
the  rest  being  in  the  hands  of  the  Regent.  And  now, 
my  dear  friend,  do  not  hear  the  poor  Duke  of  Clarence 
unfairly  abused;  he  has  done  wrong,  and  he  is  suffer- 
ing for  it,  but  as  far  as  he  has  left  it  in  his  own  power 
he  is  doing  everything  kind  and  noble,  even  to  the 
distressing  himself.  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  the 
friendly  caution  at  the  end  of  your  letter,  there  will,  I 
trust,  be  no  occasion  for  it,  but  it  was  kind  and  friendly, 
and  as  such  I  shall  ever  esteem  it. 

"  I  remain,  dear  sir, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  DORA  JORDAN. 
'  These  letters  are  for  your  eye  alone." 

Boaden  puts  a  footnote,  "  The  two  letters  enclosed 
by  Mrs.  Jordan  returned  to  her,  faithfully  obeying  the 
condition  attached  to  their  communication." 

That  Dorothy  should  again  assert  that  she  and  the 
Duke  had  never  had  a  quarrel  points  to  Boaden  again 
as  the  confidential  friend.  She  had  done  the  same 
thing  early  in  1809  when  the  terms  upon  which  they 
lived  became  the  subject  of  public  talk,  and  when  also 
her  protective  instinct  was  shown  to  be  stronger  than 
her  candour.  It  is  not  possible  to  think,  even  without 
evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  over  such  events  no 
hint  of  anger  could  have  been  betrayed.  The  Duke 
was  subject  to  mad  fits  of  rage,  as  is  evidenced  by  his 
public  treatment  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent  in  later  days, 


326     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

and  when  obsessed  by  such  he  roared  like  the  very 
bull  of  Bashan  before  the  whole  world.  Dorothy 
herself  was  quick-tempered,  and  accustomed  to  plain 
speech;  thus,  in  spite  of  her  brave  words,  they  cannot 
be  taken  so  much  as  adhering  to  fact  as  giving  the 
impression  which  she  desired  to  be  handed  on  to  the 
public.  A  curious  point  in  this  letter  is  the  caution 
which  her  correspondent  had  given  her.  Who  or  what 
was  it  against?  As  far  as  can  be  traced  the  key  to  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  letter  she  wrote  to  Clarence,  in 
which  she  mentions  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Of  all 
the  Princes  Cumberland  bore  the  worst  character  for 
amativeness,  and  later  other  crimes  were  imputed  to 
him.  And  it  is  evident  that  this  dangerous  person  was 
interesting  himself  much  in  Dorothy's  affairs,  but  why? 
It  could  not  be  love,  for  she  was  just  fifty  and  had 
had  fourteen  children,  thus  some  other  motive  must 
have  actuated  him. 

As  usual  the  biographers  are  vague  about  these 
years,  and  Huish,  a  contemporary  writer,  places  the 
Cumberland  incident  in  1809,  but  as  he  crowds  many 
events  of  different  years  together,  he  cannot  be  taken 
as  exact,  though  his  summing  up  is  worth  recording. 
At  this  time,  he  says,  extreme  moral  delinquency  was 
imputed  to  Clarence,  who  was  labouring  under  great 
pecuniary  distress ;  and  ruinous  measures  were  resorted 
to  to  provide  for  each  day.  But  "  whatever  his  case, 
there  was  no  excuse  for  the  Duke  to  allow  Mrs.  Jordan 
to  be  the  object  of  the  rancour  and  malice  of  a  certain 
party  whose  infamous  design  was  to  attach  criminality 
to  her,  and  in  a  point  in  which  she  was  as  pure  as  the 
snow  which  lies  in  Diana's  lap." 

Boaden  said  that  the  causes  of  the  calumnies  during 
these  years  were  three,  concurring  to  swell  the  tide  of 


The  Separation  327 

persecution,  while  the  press  was  equally  well  disposed 
to  help  each  one.  And  he  gives  those  causes  as : 
First,  numerous  scribblers  who  hated  the  Duke; 
secondly,  a  few  writers  connected  with  the  theatres 
who  were  ready  to  convert  Dorothy's  virtues  into  pitch 
and  declare  that  if  she  benefited  any  one  "  she  did  it 
for  her  body's  lust";  thirdly,  more  important  people 
who  tried  to  engender  distrust  or  disgust  in  the  mind 
of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  hoping  that  this,  joined  to 
his  monetary  embarrassment,  would  make  him  part 
finally  with  Mrs.  Jordan. 

Huish  goes  further  when  he  insinuates  that  there 
was  a  plot  among  the  royal  relatives  to  ensure  a 
rupture,  thus  leaving  Clarence  blameless  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  when  he  married,  as  they  hoped  he  would 
do.  The  Cumberland  scandal  appears  never  to  have 
been  widely  circulated,  but  it  was  forced  upon 
Dorothy's  notice,  and  she  followed  her  last  letter  to 
Boaden  with  the  following  cry  of  pain — 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  should  be  sorry  the  letters  I  have  enclosed 
to  you  were  the  only  vouchers  I  could  produce  to  the 
world,  if  necessary.  But,  good  God !  what  will  not 
the  world  say?  I  received  two  letters  this  day,  telling 
me  that  I  was  accused  of  intriguing  with  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland ! 

"  I  am  heart-sick  and  almost  worn  out  with  this 
cruel  business;  but  I  am, 

"  Very  gratef uly  yours, 

"DORA  JORDAN." 

At  the  end  of  November  matters  began  to  move 
more  quickly.  Clarence  returned  to  London  about  the 


328     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ioth,  and  on  the  24th  was  at  Portsmouth,  continuing 
with  George  his  "  tour  round  the  island."  In  between 
those  dates  he  had — as  has  been  seen — been  trying  his 
own  hand  at  arranging  the  settlement,  and  failing.  On 
the  25th  the  coming  marriage  of  Miss  Tylney  Long 
with  Mr.  Wellesley  Pole  was  announced,  and  on  the 
29th  Boaden  had  conveyed  to  the  public  the  chief 
points  in  Dorothy's  letter  to  him. 

She  had  been  negotiating  a  second  engagement  with 
Covent  Garden,  which  was  to  be  "  the  very  last  time  " 
she  would  appear  on  any  stage,  so  Boaden's  paragraph 
took  the  following  form — 

"  Mrs.  Jordan,  it  seems,  has  declined  all  theatrical 
engagements  at  present,  on  account  of  the  agitation 
of  her  feelings,  arising  from  a  late  extraordinary  event, 
so  extraordinary  that  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  reason- 
able conjecture  on  the  subject,  as  nothing  has  been 
urged  against  her  conduct,  which  indeed  has  received 
every  satisfactory  testimony  and  even  soothing  com- 
munications, from  the  quarter  where  objections  might 
be  supposed  to  exist,  if  they  had  any  existence." 

The  papers  were  discreet  and  perhaps  commiserat- 
ing, for  there  was  scarcely  any  further  public  allusion 
made  to  the  separation,  and  no  stones  were  thrown  to 
deepen  Dorothy's  trouble.  Clarence  remained  at 
Portsmouth  ten  days  and  arrived  at  St.  James's  on 
December  5,  after  which  he  pushed  matters  through 
about  the  settlement.  Rumours  were  floated  that  he 
had  increased  it  to  £1200  a  year,  and  then  that  it 
would  be  four  times  that  amount,  and  at  last  in  the 
middle  of  the  month  the  thing  was  concluded. 
Dorothy  wrote  a  letter  from  St.  James's  dated 
December  7  (probably  copied  wrongly  by  Boaden 
for  17) — 


The  Separation  329 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  lose  not  a  moment  in  letting  you  know  that 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  has  concluded  and  settled  upon 
me  and  his  children  the  most  liberal  and  generous 
provision,  and  I  trust  everything  will  sink  into  oblivion. 

'  Yours  ever, 

"  DOROTHY  JORDAN." 

In  a  letter  which  she  wrote  to  the  Duke  from  Bushy 
House  a  little  later  occurred  the  paragraph — 

"With  your  arrangements  I  again  unequivocally 
repeat  I  am  most  perfectly  satisfied,  but  under  all  cir- 
cumstances I  did  and  had  a  right  to  expect  some  con- 
sideration from  another  quarter,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  in  an  appeal  I  made  to  the  mercy  and  munificence 
of  your  Royal  brothers,  I  perceive  that  they  appear 
totally  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  those  words." 

What  can  this  mean,  read  with  the  earlier  letter 
mentioning  the  royal  brothers,  but  that  she  had  made 
great  concessions  in  the  agreement  under  the  belief 
that  the  Princes  intended  to  safeguard  her  to  some 
extent  ? 

Years  later  the  Duke's  man,  Thomas  Barton,  pub- 
lished to  the  world  the  terms  upon  which  the  separation 
was  arranged,  and  they  may  as  well  have  place  here. 
She  was  to  have  the  care  up  to  a  certain  age  of  her 
four  youngest  daughters,  for  whose  maintenance  she 
was  to  receive  £1500,  and  for  their  house  and  carriage 
£600.  For  her  own  use  she  was  given  £1500,  and 
£800  to  make  provision  for  her  elder  daughters,  not 
the  children  of  the  Duke,  which  made  in  all  £4400. 

Barton  adds,  ' '  This  settlement  was  carried  into 
effect,  a  trustee  [himself]  was  appointed,  and  the 
monies  under  such  trust  were  paid  quarterly  to  the 


330     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

respective  accounts  at  the  banking  house  of  Messrs. 
Coutts  and  Co.  It  was  a  stipulation  in  the  said  settle- 
ment, that  in  the  event  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  resuming  her 
profession,  the  care  of  the  Duke's  four  daughters, 
together  with  the  £1500  per  annum  for  their  mainten- 
ance, should  revert  to  his  Royal  Highness.  .  .  .  Upon 
settling  the  annual  allowance  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  every- 
thing in  the  shape  of  a  money  transaction  was  brought 
to  account,  and  the  most  trifling  sums,  even  upon  recol- 
lection, were  admitted,  and  interest  being  calculated 
upon  the  whole  in  her  favour  to  the  latest  period,  the 
balance  was  paid  over  by  me  on  the  part  of  the  Duke, 
and  for  which  I  hold  Mrs.  Jordan's  receipt." 

On  paper  this  sounds  very  well,  though  Barton's 
further  claim  that  the  Duke  was  liberal,  noble  and 
generous  to  the  highest  degree  will  not  stand  when  the 
matter  is  examined.  To  take  the  money  items  first. 
The  ,£600  for  the  house  and  carriage  was  not  Mrs. 
Jordan's  at  all,  but  was  paid  through  the  bank  and  the 
trustee  for  its  specific  purpose;  the  £1500  was  to  be 
used  for  the  little  girls,  including  education.  The 
£800  had  nothing  to  do  with  Dorothy,  being  paid 
direct  to  the  daughters  by  the  bankers,  and  thus 
Dorothy's  income  was  the  mere  £1500!  Quite 
enough !  those  purists  will  say  who  can  only  look  on 
her  as  a  mistress  and  a  thing  of  nought.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  she  could  earn  very  much  more 
than  that  amount  in  one  year,  and  that  to  gain  the 
£1500  she  was  bound  never  to  act  again  under  pain  of 
losing  the  children  who  were  so  dear  to  her,  children 
of  the  ages  of  13,  10,  7  and  5.  The  youngest  boy, 
Augustus,  six  years  old,  was  taken  from  her  already, 
as  was  the  eldest  girl,  Sophia,  the  darling  of  her 
father's  heart. 


The  Separation  331 

Barton  asserts,  too,  and  probably  quite  truthfully, 
that  everything  that  Dorothy  had  lent  or  given  to  the 
Duke  was  added  together,  interest  calculated  and  the 
balance  paid  over;  but  he  does  not  say  how  that 
balance  was  paid  over,  and  he  is  careful  not  to  hint 
that  the  £800  a  year  paid  to  the  Ford  daughters  was 
the  interest  on  the  greater  part  of  that  balance.  The 
way  in  which  the  Duke  settled  to  pay  £1000  towards 
Dorothea  March's  marriage  settlement  is  a  revelation 
in  the  method  by  which  he  discharged  his  liabilities, 
and  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  worse  off  in 
1811  than  he  had  been  in  1809,  that  his  debts  were 
greater,  and  that,  in  fact,  he  was  in  desperate  straits. 
That  he  paid  over  tens  of  thousands  of  pounds  in 
money  is  not  to  be  credited  for  one  moment,  though 
it  is  quite  easy  to  believe  that  once  again  he  found 
parchment  an  extremely  good  medium.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  form  that  his  "  great  generosity  " 
took,  Dorothy's  affairs  showed  no  signs  of  increased 
affluence,  not  a  single  act  of  extravagance  is  on  record 
to  prove  that  she  was  in  really  easy  circumstances,  one 
writer  declaring  to  the  contrary  that  she  was  very 
needy;  and  when  six  months  later  a  new  and  tremen- 
dous demand  was  made  upon  her  she  had  no  capital 
with  which  to  meet  it. 

Her  daughters  only  received  £200  a  year  each,  and 
there  was  a  fourth  £200  which  is  not — historically- 
allotted  to  any  one,  which  is  another  indication  of  the 
existence  of  Hester  Bettesworth,  who  is  so  consistently 
ignored  by  Boaden.  In  considering  this  it  must  not 
be  lost  sight  of  that  the  very  names  of  the  Fitzclarence 
children  at  this  time  have  to  be  sought  for,  and  had 
they  not  been  of  royal  parentage  would  most  probably 
never  have  been  recorded. 


332     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

On  the  subject  of  the  giving  up  of  the  stage  or  the 
children  there  is  something  to  be  said.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  Dorothy's  own  desire  that  she  should  give 
up  her  profession,  one  which  she  had  been  unable  to 
gratify  because  of  the  ever  present  need  of  money  in 
the  Duke's  household.  In  the  second  place,  this  royal 
Prince  could  never  again  hope  to  benefit  by  her  work, 
and  therefore  would  at  this  juncture  be  quite  ready  to 
let  her  have  her  will.  And  in  the  third  he  was  moved 
with  fatherly  solicitude  for  his  children,  and  would 
wish  that  if  they  were  away  from  him  they  should  have 
the  constant  presence  and  care  of  their  mother. 

Dorothy's  welcomed  absence  from  the  theatre,  how- 
ever, only  lasted  a  few  months.  When  she  was,  in 
May  1812,  tempted  to  go  again  upon  the  boards  she 
used  the  Duke's  prohibition  as  an  excuse  against  it,  and 
when  she  was  forced  by  necessity  to  take  up  work 
again  she  did  as  she  had  done  for  over  twenty  years, 
threw  dust  into  the  eyes  of  the  public  and  shielded  the 
Duke  by  declaring  that  she  worked  to  gain  money  for 
her  elder  daughters,  and  that  the  Duke  had  in  his  great 
kindness  granted  her  permission  to  play  in  the  hope 
that  it  might  improve  her  health. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

CUPID    V.    CASH 

"  Oh,  where  among  our  nobles  will  you  meet 
A  man  so  faithful,  modest  and  discreet, 
As  love-sick  Clarence,  amorous  and  gay, 
Who  steals  the  ladies'  tender  hearts  away? 
Offers  his  hand  to  Long,  short,  fair  and  brown, 
And  gains  among  the  females  great  renown." 

PETER  PINDAR,  Jun. 

"  Had  he  left  me  to  starve  I  never  would  have  uttered  a  word  to  his 
disadvantage."— DOROTHY  JORDAN. 

IT  was  not  unnatural  that  Catherine  Tylney  Long 
should  share  with  the  Duke  in  the  attention  at  this 
time  bestowed  upon  his  hunting  of  fortune,  and  Gillray 
and  other  caricaturists  were  busy  with  pen  and  brush. 
One  imposing  caricature  showed  a  group  upon  the 
bank  of  the  Thames  at  Hampton,  with  a  boat  drawn 
up  to  the  shore.  The  boatman,  Tom  Tugg,  alias  the 
Duke,  stands  hat  in  hand  before  the  heiress,  inviting 
her  to  take  a  cruise.  Miss  Long,  grasping  large  rent 
rolls  and  an  apron  full  of  gold  pieces,  has  Wellesley 
Pole  by  her  side,  while  Dorothy,  surrounded  by  her 
children,  is  in  the  background,  crying — 

"  What,  leave  your  faithful  Peggy?" 

Miss  Long  refuses  Mr.  Tugg  quite  nicely  with,  "  I 
am  sorry  that  I  can't  be  yours,  for  indeed  I  find  it 
impossible  to  resist  Mr.  Pole  !  "  And  that  young  man 
remarks,  "  I'll  tell  you  what,  Master  Tugg,  you'll  not 
be  first  oars  here — this  little  rosebud  I  intend  to  pluck 
for  myself;  therefore  be  off."  The  Duke  answers 

333 


334     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Miss  Long  with,  "Why,  look  you,  miss,  I'll  go  on 
board  of  a  man-of-war,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  see  you 
in  the  arms  of  another.  Then  farewell,  my  trim-built 
wherry — and  the  Rent  Roll,  then  farewell !  " 

"  Princely  Amusements,"  a  picture  by  Gillray, 
showed  the  Regent  dancing  with  three  befeathered 
ladies,  the  Princess  of  Wales  vanishing  through  the 
doorway.  At  a  round  table,  Clarence,  York,  Mrs. 
Jordan  and  Mrs.  Clarke  are  playing  whist,  Clarence 
saying,  "  I  revoke."  Upon  the  mantelpiece  is  a  pole 
surmounted  by  a  cockscomb,  up  which  a  little  white 
hen  is  climbing,  while  a  puppy,  labelled  D.  of  CL,  is 
licking  its  foot.  A  portrait  of  the  King  as  Tony 
Lumpkin,  and  of  the  Queen  as  Old  Snuffy,  adorn  the 
walls. 

This  caricature,  about  which  there  was  nothing 
lovely,  was  yet  quite  refined  compared  with  some  con- 
cerning the  Princes'  doings ;  and  that  such  things  were 
popular  shows  how  eager  was  the  public  to  watch  and 
criticize  these  faithless  men  who  had  been  placed  by 
Providence  (!)  at  the  head  of  the  nation;  they  also 
show  the  depths  of  degradation  to  which  the  Throne 
had  sunk  when  the  King  and  Queen  so  shared  in  the 
public  disrespect. 

Peter  Pindar,  Jun.,  one  of  the  imitators  of  John 
Wolcot,  wrote  many  verses  upon  the  Tylney  Long 
incident,  caustic  verses  of  a  broad  humour,  not  always 
repeatable,  but  these  three  are  mild  specimens — 

"  I've  illegitimates  at  home, 

And  illegitimates  abroad ; 
But  now  the  hour  of  thought  has  come 
And  I'll  reform,  I  will,  by  G . 

"'Angel,'  quoth  he,  'for  such  thou  art, 
Come  be  the  sharer  of  my  pillow  ; 
Take,  prithee  take,  my  melting  heart, 
And  doom  me  not  to  wear  the  willow. 


Cupid  v.  Cash  335 


" '  I  am  the  oflfspring  of  a  king, 

Yet  do  I  woo  thee,  gentle  maiden ; 
I  will  not  leave  thee,  no  such  thing, 
My  love  for  thee  shall  be  unfading.'" 

Another  satire  gave  Miss  Long's  reply  as  follows — 

"  Sir,  if  your  passion  is  sincere, 
I  feel  for  one  who  is  not  here ; 
One  who  has  been  for  years  your  pride, 
And  is,  or  ought  to  be,  your  bride  ; 
Shared  with  you  all  your  cares  and  joys, 
The  mother  of  your  girls  and  boys. 

"'Tis  cruelty  the  most  refined, 
And  shows  a  mean,  ungenerous  mind, 
To  take  advantage  of  your  power, 
And  leave  her  like  a  blighted  flower. 

"  Return  to  Mistress  Jordan's  arms, 
Soothe  her  and  quiet  her  alarms  ; 
Your  present  differences  o'er, 
Be  wise  and  play  the  fool  no  more." 

Poor  Catherine !  She  was  too  upright  to  marry  a 
man  who  belonged  to  another,  too  prudent  to  risk  any 
disregard  of  the  Marriage  Act;  but  though  she  chose 
a  scoundrel  of  the  deepest  dye,  would  a  better  fate 
have  been  hers  if  she  had  taken  "  our  Billy  "  ?  For 
when  that  gentleman  had  spent  her  money,  as  he  spent 
Dorothy's,  he  would  have  had  every  right  to  turn  her 
adrift,  as  he  did  Dorothy,  and  look  out  for  another 
woman  to  help  support  him.  That  she  should  have 
refused  a  prince  of  the  blood  in  so  determined  a  way 
shows  her  to  have  been  a  person  of  character,  even 
though  she  was  helped  to  independence  by  her  inevit- 
able popularity,  for  Lady  Granville  wrote  of  her  as 
refusing  men  right  and  left.  But  the  Prince's  per- 
tinacity had  shown  her  that  the  time  had  come  to  make 
a  decision,  and,  alas !  she  chose  the  very  worst  man 
possible,  the  Hon.  Wellesley  Pole,  son  of  Lord  Morn- 
ington,  Baron  Maryborough,  and  cousin  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington ;  one  of  whom  Mrs.  Calvert  said,  "  No 


336     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

one  rejoices  at  Mr.  Pole's  success.  He  is  an  ill- 
conditioned  and,  I  believe,  not  a  very  wise  young 
man."  Buckingham  avers  that  Pole  was  solely  in- 
debted to  the  Duke  for  his  acceptance,  and  another 
writer  said  that  in  "her  terror  of  Clarence  she  threw 
herself  into  the  arms  of  Pole." 

The  marriage  was  solemnized  in  March  1812,  and 
the  very  incidents  of  the  ceremony  were  typical  of  the 
rest  of  her  life.  She  wore  a  dress  which  cost  six 
hundred  guineas  and  a  necklace  worth  thirty  thousand, 
but  the  man  who  was  ready  to  share  her  wealth  had  not 
even  remembered  to  buy  a  wedding  ring.  So  the 
noble  party  in  Lady  Tylney  Long's  drawing-room  had 
to  take  a  rest  in  the  middle  of  the  ceremony  while  a 
jeweller  was  fetched  from  Piccadilly  with  a  boxful. 
Thus  began  a  disastrous  marriage  with  a  man  whose 
chief  ideas  of  educating  his  children  was  to  hire 
French  beggar  boys,  when  in  Paris,  to  teach  them  the 
lowest  oaths,  his  sons  doing  a  corresponding  service 
for  the  French  boys.  He  spent  all  her  money,  got  a 
mortgage  of  ,£100,000  on  her  property,  and  spent  that, 
then  she  had  to  make  him  and  the  woman  he  lived  with 
an  allowance  out  of  her  pin  money  of  ,£13,000.  Her 
horror  of  him  grew  so  intense  that  her  health  gave  way, 
and  at  last  she  began  proceedings  for  a  divorce,  part 
of  the  process  being  to  stop  his  allowance.  Upon  that 
he  returned  suddenly  to  England,  went  to  see  her,  and 
put  her  in  such  fear  of  her  life  that  "  she  was  forced 
to  take  refuge  in  a  pantry  and  to  make  her  escape  from 
the  house  by  the  assistance  of  a  Bow  Street  officer," 
said  the  judge  in  Chancery,  when  Pole  applied  for  the 
custody  of  his  children. 

She  died  a  few  weeks  after,  in  September  1825,  but 
at  least  she  died  with  her  children  and  sister  about 


Cupid  v.  Cash  337 

her  and  in  the  comfort  of  a  home,  blessings  which 
were  not  allowed  to  Dorothy.  The  disreputable 
Pole  passed  his  later  life  as  a  three-hundred-a-year- 
pensioner  on  his  cousin,  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 

The  failure  of  the  arrangement  with  the  heiress  did 
not  turn  William's  heart  back  to  Dorothy,  and  Buck- 
ingham declares  that  he  wrote  to  Lord  Keith  to  pro- 
pose for  his  daughter  Margaret  Elphinston,  who  was 
in  her  own  right  through  her  mother,  Baroness  Nairn ; 
this  proposal  was,  "  in  the  most  decided  and  peremp- 
tory terms,  rejected." 

The  Duke's  further  matrimonial  -quest,  of  course, 
became  public  news,  and  early  in  1812  another  cartoon 
was  published,  showing  him  disguised  as  King  Nep- 
tune and  kneeling  before  a  negress,  named  Venus 
Barton,  who  carries  great  green  bags  full  of  gold. 
This  nymph  I  have  not  traced,  but  she  was  much  car- 
tooned at  the  time.  Her  reply  to  her  suitor  was  much 
the  same  as  that  of  the  heiress. 

"Ha,  Massa  Neptune,  vat  you  vant ? 
Me  quite  up  to  all  your  cant ; 
For  if  Miss  Golden  Long  would  have  you, 
You  would  not  come  to  me  to  sue, 
And  leave  your  wife  and  piccaninnies, 
To  come  and  try  to  take  my  guineas." 

It  gives  real  pleasure  to  know  that  for  years  after 
this  the  Duke  of  Clarence  sought  in  vain  for  a  woman 
who  would  marry  him.  He  was  credited  in  1812  with 
proposing  for  a  sister  of  the  Czar  Alexander ;  the  next 
year  it  was  announced  that  he  had  really  opened  a 
treaty  of  marriage,  and  early  in  1814  Her  Serene  High- 
ness, under  the  title  of  the  Duchess  of  Oldenburg,  was 
met  by  Clarence  on  her  arrival  in  the  Medway.  Now 
every  one  was  sure  of  the  marriage;  but  the  lady 
accepted  his  attentions,  stayed  weeks  in  England,  was 


338     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

much  caressed — a  word  very  popular  then — by  the 
Queen,  and  then  gaily  sailed  away  again.  She  had 
cultivated  a  friendship  with  the  Princess  Charlotte, 
and  had  perhaps  learned  too  much  about  the  Princes 
to  wish  to  enter  the  family. 

Clarence  then  cast  his  eyes  on  a  Princess  of  Den- 
mark, and  Peter  Pindar  asserts  that  Southey  wrote  two 
sonnets  to  her,  which  William  sent  as  his  own  produc- 
tion. She,  however,  refused  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  "a  carpet  admiral."  His  other  serious  attempt 
at  marriage  was  in  1817,  when  he  made  love  to  a  young 
lady  named  Wykeham,  the  heiress  of  all  the  estates 
in  Oxfordshire  left  by  Lord  Wenman.  It  was  at 
Brighton  that  the  Duke  wooed  her,  telling  her  that  he 
had  not  a  single  farthing,  but  if  she  would  like  to  be  a 
Duchess,  and  perhaps  a  Queen,  he  would  be  happy  to 
arrange  it,  and  he  eventually  gained  her  consent  by 
sending  her  the  sonnets  written  for  "sweet  Anne  of 
Denmark,"  pretending  that  they  were  the  result  of  the 
inspiration  gained  from  Miss  Wykeham's  eyes. 

This  may  be  contemporary  embroidery  upon  the 
fact,  but  the  Queen,  the  Regent,  the  Lord  Chancellor 
and  the  Privy  Council  were  all  mightily  perturbed,  and 
her  Majesty  was  furious  when  Sweet  William  went 
down  to  Windsor  to  announce  "  the  happy  event "  to 
her.  She  was  sufficiently  agitated  to  put  off  a  Drawing- 
room,  and  the  Regent,  who  had  been  encouraging  his 
brother,  turned  his  back  on  him  when  it  came  to 
difficulty. 

"Do  you  know  Miss  Wykeham?  She  is  a  fine, 
vulgar  miss,"  wrote  W.  H.  Fremantle  to  the  Marquis 
of  Buckingham.  "  There  is  nothing  talked  of  but  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  having  been  refused  by  the  Princess 
of  Denmark,  and  having  proposed  since  for  Miss 


Cupid  v.  Cash  339 

Wykeham,  who  has  accepted  him.  I  believe  there  is 
no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this,  but  it  is  not  thought  that 
they  will  be  allowed  to  marry,"  wrote  Mrs.  Calvert.1 

By  March  Clarence  had  been  persuaded  finally  to 
abandon  Miss  Wykeham,  and  Lord  Grenville  com- 
mented, "Whether  the  love-sick  youth  is  to  transfer 
his  flame  elsewhere  and  where  I  know  not."  But  the 
love-sick  youth  had  not  much  chance  of  doing  any- 
thing, for  the  Regent  and  his  mother  took  his  affairs 
in  hand,  and  before  two  months  were  over  he  was 
betrothed  to  Adelaide  of  Saxe-Meiningen.  The  terms 
he  at  first  demanded  from  Parliament  were,  said  the 
Duke  of  Kent  to  Creevey,  impossible,  being  payment 
of  all  his  debts,  a  settlement  suitable  for  a  Prince  who 
marries  for  a  succession  to  the  throne,  and  a  handsome 
provision  for  all  his  natural  children. 

When  Clarence  was  King  he  made  Miss  Wykeham 
Baroness  Wenman,  and  she  died  unmarried  in  1870. 
****** 

During  December  and  January  1812  Clarence  was 
in  London  except  for  a  week  or  two  spent  at  Ports- 
mouth, and  he  did  not  return  to  Bushy  Park  till  the 
end  of  January,  so  Dorothy  had  plenty  of  time  to  move 
her  possessions.  Simultaneously  with  her  arrival  in 
London  arose  anew  the  rumour  that  she  intended  to 
take  an  engagement  at  Covent  Garden,  and  would 
follow  Mrs.  Siddons  after  Easter.  She  was  accredited 
with  two  London  residences,  one  at  Hammersmith, 
which  "  also  became  the  partial  residence  of  her  illus- 
trious friend,"  and  one  in  Cadogan  Place,  Sloane 
Street,  "where  she  and  some  of  the  younger  female 
branches  of  her  family  are  in  future  to  reside."  The 
inference  is  that  for  a  time  the  house  in  Hammersmith 

1  AH  Irish  Beauty  of  the  Regency.     By  Mrs.  Warenne  Blake. 


340     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

was  occupied  by  Dorothy  and  her  little  girls,  and  that 
when  she  wanted  a  town  address  she  used  Cadogan 
Place.  Her  letters  prove  that  she  took  a  long  lease 
of  the  latter  house  and  furnished  it,  and  that  not  only 
Mrs.  Hawker  but  the  Marchs  and  their  two  families 
of  children  lived  there  (the  General  too  probably, 
when  not  on  duty),  and  kept  a  home  for  Dorothy  when 
she  needed  it. 

Until  the  autumn  of  1812  Dorothy  lived  a  private 
life,  and  when  in  May  Jones  of  Covent  Garden  wrote 
asking  her  help  for  his  benefit,  she  replied,  "  When  it 
is  in  my  power  there  is  none  that  I  would  sooner  serve 
than  yourself,  but  your  very  good  friend  Mrs.  Lane 
will  explain  to  you  the  serious  restrictions  I  am  under 
with  respect  to  my  never  returning  to  my  profession. 
I  have  therefore  only  to  add  that  I  very  sincerely  wish 
you  every  possible  success,  and  such  as  your  merits 
fully  entitle  you  to." 

Who  saw  after  Clarence's  little  boys  of  about  ten 
and  seven  years  old,  now  deprived  of  their  mother's 
care,  is  not  revealed;  but  probably  Jane  Lloyd,  who  so 
faithfully  kept  Dorothy  in  knowledge  of  their  doings. 
There  is  nothing  to  prove  that  the  latter  was  forbidden 
to  see  them,  as  has  been  stated,  and  she  certainly 
received  visits  occasionally  from  her  children.  For 
Sophia  a  chaperone  or  companion  was  engaged,  prob- 
ably the  lady  to  whom  Dorothy  wrote  as  follows  from 
Cadogan  Place — 

"  DEAR  MADAM, 

"  I  should  be  extremely  insensible  if  your  very 
kind  and  considerate  letter  had  not  afforded  me  much 
pleasure.  Your  opinion  of  dear  Henry,  while  it  does 
hina  justice,  reflects  the  highest  honour  on  your  feelings 


Cupid  v.  Cash  341 

and  observation — he  is  indeed  an  admirable  boy;  I 
cannot  recollect  any  obligation  you  owe  me  for  any 
former  expressions  of  admiration  I  have  made  use  of, 
but  I  trust  and  feel  I  shall  owe  you  many  in  your 
future  care  and  affection  towards  dear  Sophia.  I  shall 
feel  much  pleasure  in  being  personally  known  to  you, 
and  hope  you  will  accompany  my  dear  boy  and  girl 
and  take  a  family  dinner  with  us.  I  will  be  with 
Sophy  by  three." 

Sophy  by  this  time  was  a  very  gay  young  person, 
the  papers  including  her  name  among  the  notabilities, 
such  as  "  To-day  the  Duke  of  Clarence  and  Miss  Fitz- 
clarence  arrived  in  town  from  Bushy  " ;  "  The  Duke 
of  Clarence  is  indisposed  at  Bushy,  Miss  Fitzclarence 
left  town  immediately  to  attend  him  " ;  "  The  Duke 
and  Miss  Fitzclarence  are  expected  in  town  to-day," 
etc. 

For  some  time  a  lady  named  Sketchley  had  been 
helping  with  Dorothy's  children,  and  from  this  period 
until  her  death  Miss  Sketchley  remained  attached  to 
her  and  her  fortunes;  and  though  she  was  suspected 
later  of  intrigue  and  even  of  dishonesty,  she  was  the 
only  person  who  remained  faithful  to  the  end.  She 
accompanied  the  lonely  woman  on  her  tours,  nursed 
her  in  illness,  comforted  her  in  sorrow,  and  took  the 
place  not  only  of  a  friend  but  of  that  old  nurse  who 
had  been  with  Mrs.  Jordan  for  years,  and  was  now  pen- 
sioned in  a  little  house  at  Englefield  Green,  which 
Dorothy  paid  for.  But  the  establishment  at  Hammer- 
smith soon  disappeared,  for  in  the  summer  a  new  and 
bitter  trouble  arose. 

Thomas  Alsop  had  left  his  work,  or  it  had  left  him ; 
he  was  heavily  in  debt,  and  it  was  necessary  that  his 


342     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

affairs  should  be  examined.  The  result  proved  that 
he  was  financially  ruined,  and  Dorothy  took  much  of 
this  burden  upon  her  shoulders.  Probably  to  save  the 
man  from  imprisonment  she  mortgaged  part  of  her 
income  from  the  Prince,  and  then  that  she  might  live 
she  had  again  to  go  on  the  stage.  So  for  a  scamp  like 
Alsop  and  a  giddy  fool  like  Frances,  Dorothy  had  to 
give  up  the  society  of  her  little  children,  the  quiet  com- 
fort which  the  Duke's  various  payments  afforded — as 
long  as  they  were  continued — and  a  large  part  of  the 
,£1500  a  year  which  remained  to  her;  and  once  again, 
more  alone  and  bereft  than  ever,  take  up  the  weary 
round  over  the  country  in  pursuit  of  work.  But  where 
was  that  great  sum  which  the  Duke  had  paid  over  to 
her  in  discharge  of  all  she  had  paid  and  lent  during 
twenty  years? 

Boaden  and  succeeding  biographers  have  placed  the 
Alsop  trouble  in  1814,  but  its  true  date  was  1812, 
though  Frances  remained  a  care  to  the  end. 

Dorothy  caused  Alsop  to  insure  his  life  for  his  wife's 
sake  and  paid  the  premium  herself,  and  then  cast 
about  for  some  method  of  providing  for  him.  When, 
in  November  1812,  Lord  Moira  was  appointed 
Governor-General  of  Bengal  and  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  forces  in  India,  some  good  friend  found  her  the 
way.  It  may  have  been  worked  through  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  for  M'Mahon,  the  Regent's  Comptroller  of 
the  Household,  had  something  to  do  with  it.  Thus, 
when  in  April  1813  Lord  Moira  embarked  for  India  he 
carried  in  his  train  a  scallywag  who  called  himself  one 
of  his  under-secretaries  as  an  excuse  for  his  presence. 
Dorothy  and  her  daughter  Frances  never  again  saw 
Thomas  Alsop ;  their  part  was  to  repair  the  damage  he 
had  done — a  part  which  Frances  entirely  repudiated. 


Cupid  v.  Cash  343 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  Duke  was  con- 
sulted, personally  or  through  his  agent,  upon  all  this, 
and  gave  what  help  he  could;  and  that  Dorothy's 
representations  as  to  the  permanent  inroads  Alsop  had 
made  upon  her  income  convinced  him  that  the  only 
course  was  to  keep  to  their  bargain — that  is,  to  take 
the  children  back  to  his  own  home,  and  reclaim  the 
£1500  for  their  maintenance  and  the  £600  for  their 
house  and  carriage.  This  would  leave  Dorothy  with 
her  own  £1500  and  the  £800  for  her  daughters. 
Frances's  share  of  that  £800  was  perhaps  pledged  to 
her  husband's  creditors,  for  during  the  next  few  years 
she  had  no  income;  the  rest  belonged  to  the  other 
daughters,  while  Dorothy's  own  allowance  was  also 
partly  pledged,  though  to  what  extent  it  is  difficult  to 
say.  Dr.  Townsend  Young  declares  that  she  then  had 
but  £200  a  year  left,  and  that  much  had  gone  to  pay 
her  own  debts.  She  herself  speaks  of  having  sunk 
about  £300  for  Frances's  benefit,  and  does  not  mention 
what  went  for  Alsop's  debts  or  her  own.  How- 
ever, to  judge  of  the  way  in  which  Dorothy  lived  in 
France,  an  income  of  £200  seems  to  be  more  than 
could  be  accounted  for.  In  addition  to  the  mortgage 
on  her  income,  Dorothy  must  from  time  to  time  have 
paid  heavy  lump  sums  upon  the  Alsop  debts,  for  she 
complained  that  she  had  spent  all  her  money  on  one 
to  the  exclusion  of  those  who  better  deserved  it.  This 
referred  to  the  fact  that  she  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
making  an  allowance  to  her  sons  when  they  went  into 
the  world,  and  that  this  had  been  interrupted  by  the 
needs  of  her  son-in-law. 

So,  seeing  what  was  before  her,  Dorothy  once  more 
made  use  of  Boaden,  as  usual  taking  the  onus  of  her 
new  departure  upon  herself,  and  extolling  the  Duke 


344     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

for  his  goodness  in  relieving  her  from  her  promise  to 
act  no  more. 

"  Cadogan  Place,  Thursday. 
"  MY  DEAR  SlR, 

"  I  fear  I  must  have  appeared  unmindful  of  your 
many  kindnesses  in  having  been  such  a  length  of  time 
without  writing  to  you;  but  really,  till  very  lately,  my 
spirits  have  been  so  depressed  that  I  am  sure  you  will 
understand  my  feelings  when  I  say  it  cost  me  more 
pain  to  write  to  those  interested  about  me  than  to  a 
common  acquaintance;  but  the  constant  kindness  and 
attention  I  meet  with  from  the  Duke,  in  every  respect 
but  personal  interviews  (and  which  depends  as  much 
on  my  feelings  as  his),  has  in  a  great  measure  restored 
me  to  my  former  health  and  spirits.  Among  many 
noble  traits  of  goodness,  he  has  lately  added  one  more, 
that  of  exonerating  me  from  my  promise  of  not  return- 
ing to  my  profession.  This  he  has  done  under  the 
idea  of  its  benefiting  my  health  and  adding  to  my  plea- 
sures and  comforts,  and  though  it  is  very  uncertain 
whether  I  shall  ever  avail  myself  of  this  kindness,  yet 
you,  if  you  choose,  are  at  liberty  to  make  it  known, 
whether  publicly  or  privately.  I  wish  I  could  see  you ; 
but  it  is  such  a  long  way  for  you  to  come. 

"  Yours  ever,  etc., 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

Py  August  1812  the  new  Drury  Lane  Theatre  was 
nearly  finished,  and  its  opening  in  the  autumn  was 
being  discussed,  so  paragraphs  appeared  at  the  end  of 
the  month  to  the  effect  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  "pre- 
paring some  magnificent  dresses  for  a  provincial  tour. 
It  is  more  probable,  however,  that  they  are  intended 
to  grace  the  opening  of  the  new  theatre  in  Drury  Lane. 


Cupid  v.  Cash  345 

But  such  an  actress  needs  not  the  outward  aid  of 
ornament,  as  she  has  the  powerful  recommendation 
of  first-rate  comic  genius." 

She  probably  was  thinking  of  Drury  Lane,  for 
negotiations  as  to  an  engagement  went  on  for  some 
time,  falling  through  at  last  because  she  and  "  the 
Theatrical  Committee  of  Drury  Lane  are  at  variance 
as  to  the  terms  upon  which  she  is  negotiating  for  an 
engagement,  and  the  lady  finds  that  she  can  employ 
herself  better  in  a  provincial  ramble  than  even  at  a 
magnificent  theatre  in  the  metropolis." 

On  October  i  that  autumn  Clarence  went  with  the 
Queen  and  the  Prince  Regent  to  inspect  the  new  Drury 
Lane  before  it  opened.  One  wonders  whether  any 
painful  memory  of  the  old  theatre  and  all  he  had 
gained  in  it  assailed  him ! 

So  in  the  autumn  Dorothy  went  again  on  tour.  In 
September  she  was  playing  at  Plymouth,  her  benefit 
on  the  28th  drawing  a  brilliant  and  overflowing  house; 
then  she  went  to  Portsmouth,  and  before  the  close  of 
the  year  she  was  at  Leicester,  where  the  young  Mac- 
ready  saw  her  for  the  first  time,  and  acted  under  her 
directions.  His  impressions  of  her,  given  in  his 
Reminiscences,  show  her  as  one  absorbed  in  her  work 
while  at  work,  quick  to  make  the  very  best  of  the 
material  at  her  hand,  and  wise  in  enriching  that  material 
with  her  praise.  The  following,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, was  written  when  she  was  fifty-one  years  old. 

"All  the  attributes  of  Thalia  were  most  joyously 
combined  in  Mrs.  Jordan.  With  a  spirit  of  fun  that 
would  have  outlaughed  Puck  himself  there  was  a  dis- 
crimination, an  identity  with  her  character,  an  artistic 
arrangement  of  the  scene  that  made  all  appear  sponta- 
neous and  accidental,  though  elaborated  with  the 


greatest  care.  Her  voice  was  one  of  the  most  melo- 
dious I  ever  heard,  which  she  could  vary  by  certain 
bass  tones,  that  would  have  disturbed  the  gravity  of  a 
hermit;  and  who  that  ever  heard  that  laugh  of  hers 
could  ever  forget  it?  The  words  of  Milman  would 
have  applied  to  her :  *  Oh,  the  words  laughed  on  her 
lips !  '  Mrs.  Nesbit,  the  charming  actress  of  a  later 
day,  had  a  fascinating  power  in  the  sweetly  ringing 
notes  of  her  hearty  laugh,  but  Mrs.  Jordan's  laugh  was 
so  rich,  so  apparently  irrepressible,  so  deliciously  self- 
enjoying  as  to  be  at  all  times  irresistible.  Its  con- 
tagious power  would  have  broken  down  the  serenity  of 
Lord  Chesterfield  himself." 

This  tribute  to  her  qualities  Macready  followed  with 
a  description  of  her  method  at  a  rehearsal  of  The 
Wonder:  "  I  remarked,  as  I  watched  this  charming 
actress  intently  through  her  first  scene,  how  minute 
and  how  particular  her  directions  were;  nor  could  she 
be  satisfied  till  by  repetition  she  had  seen  the  business 
executed  exactly  to  her  wish.  The  moving  picture, 
the  very  life  of  the  scene  was  perfect  in  her  mind, 
and  she  transferred  it  in  all  its  earnestness  to  every 
movement  on  the  stage." 

Macready  was  nervous,  but  Dorothy's  good-nature 
soon  relieved  him,  and  when  he  said  something  well 
she  paused,  apparently  in  a  sort  of  surprise,  "  and,  with 
great  and  grave  emphasis,  said,  '  Very  well,  indeed, 
sir !  ' "  which  gave  him  his  perfect  self-possession. 
"Where  was  there  a  Violante  who  could,  like  her, 
excite  the  bursts  of  rapture  in  an  audience.  .  .  .  The 
mode  in  which  she  taught  Flora  to  act  her  parts  was  a 
lesson  to  make  an  actress  .  .  .  the  effects  these  gifted 
individuals  produced  on  their  audiences  was  such  as 
succeeding  aspirants  have  never  been  able  to  excel." 


DOROTHY    JORDAN 

FROM   A    PASTEL   BY  JOHN    RUSSELL,    R.A.       REPRODUCED   FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH 
IN   THE   POSSESSION   OF    DR.    C.    C.    WILLIAMSON 


Cupid  v.   Cash  347 

Finishing  at  Leicester  with  The  Belle's  Stratagem, 
Dorothy  went  further  north,  and  the  next  place  she  is 
mentioned  as  visiting  is  Newcastle.  In  January  1813 
she  was  acting  for  seven  nights  at  Bath,  and  on 
February  12  she  commenced  a  two  years'  engagement 
at  Covent  Garden  by  playing  Violante  in  The  Wonder . 
The  audience  hailed  her  with  repeated  shouts  of 
delight.  Over  twenty  years  before  the  superfine  moral 
sense  of  the  great  British  public,  which  loved  to  delude 
itself  upon  its  own  virtue,  had  shown  its  scorn,  hissing 
and  abusing  her,  but  that  could  never  happen  again. 
What  though  she  had  grown  fat,  and  was  growing  old  ? 
She  was  their  one  comedian  for  them  in  England,  and 
they  welcomed  her  with  all  their  hearts.  However,  one 
poor  cowardly  and  cantankerous  spirit  hissed  loudly 
enough  to  be  heard  all  over  England,  one  that  never 
missed  an  opportunity  of  railing  against  the  Princes. 
A  writer  upon  The  Times  had  already  found  that  it 
was  dangerous  to  attack  royalty  too  openly,  and  so  by 
crushing  Mrs.  Jordan  hoped  to  reach  Clarence.  Truth 
was  of  no  importance ;  had  not  the  paper's  own  repre- 
sentative been  punished  for  telling  the  truth,  and  a 
prince's  mistress  deserved  castigating  anyhow.  So 
this  unknown  writer  used  The  Times  as  his  shield, 
and  flung  not  one  stone  but  a  whole  shower  of  stones 
in  the  face  of  the  woman  whose  life  had  become  a 
tragedy  of  self-sacrifice.  The  article  itself  is  not 
worth  reproducing,  but  here  are  two  or  three  para- 
graphs showing  its  virulence  and  coarseness  * : 

"  Here  they  [the  playgoers]  had  found  a  woman 
that,  after  forming  her  experience  by  a  personal  trial 
of  almost  every  possible  condition  of  life,  had  at 
length  crowned  her  career  by  a  full  admission  to  the 

1  The  Times,  February  u,  1813. 


knowledge  [of  high  life]  which  but  for  her  [  ?  other- 
wise] had  been  hopeless;  a  woman  who,  like  Lady 
Wortley  Montagu,  had  been  admitted  into  the  secrets 
of  harems  and  palaces,  seen  their  full  exhibition  of 
nude  beauty  and  costly  dissoluteness;  the  whole  in- 
terior pomp  of  royal  pleasure,  the  tribes  of  mutes  and 
idiots,  sultans  and  eunuchs,  slavish  passion  and  lordly 
debility.  The  price  paid  for  this  indulgence  was  prob- 
ably in  both  cases  equally  peculiar;  but  in  both  the 
reward  was  knowledge,  not  attainable  on  lighter  terms. 
We  are  not  then  to  wonder  that  Mrs.  Jordan's  return 
should  excite  the  utmost  extravagance  of  popular 
curiosity.  The  sentiment  has  been  the  same  before 
she  was  born  to  delight  princes.  .  .  . 

:'  This  woman,  to  whom  nature  has  had  so  few 
reserves,  whose  '  proper  study/  as  Pope  says,  '  has 
been  man/  whose  opportunities  of  study  have  been 
furnished,  in  the  course  of  a  diligent  life,  from  every 
rank  and  every  age;  who  has  adopted  Shakespeare's 
conception  in  its  fulness,  and  come  '  home  to  the 
hearts  and  the  bosoms  of  men/  with  such  unremitting 
assiduity ;  who  has,  eminently  above  all  other  women, 
deserved  the  renowned  motto  of  '  Humani  nihil 
alienum?  even  she  failed  last  night  to  give  pleasure. 
...  Is  not  the  public  forced  to  find  the  alternative 
for  this  degraded  woman's  appearance  in  the  decline 
of  life  either  in  her  own  vile  avarice  or  in  the  viler 
breach  of  stipulation  by  those  who  should  never 
abandon  her  to  poverty  ?  We  cannot  believe  that  the 
latter  is  the  case;  and  if  the  former,  what  share  of 
public  approbation  should  be  permitted  to  one  for 
whom  it  is  impossible  to  feel  any  share  of  personal 
respect  ?  Whose  sons  and  daughters  are  now  strangely 
to  move  among  the  honourable  people  of  England, 


Cupid  v.  Cash  349 

received  by  the  Sovereign,  and  starting  in  full  appetite 
for  royal  patronage,  while  their  mother  wanders,  and 
is  allowed  to  wander,  from  barn  to  barn  and  from  town 
to  town,  bringing  shame  on  the  art  which  she  practices, 
and  double  shame  on  those  who  must  have  had  it 
in  their  power  to  send  her  back  to  penitence  and 
obscurity." 

It  was  an  unusually  bitter  and  cowardly  attack,  even 
at  a  time  when  men  like  Cobbett  and  The  Times  writer 
still  believed  in  chivalry,  but  were  always  careful 
before  exercising  it  to  knock  the  woman  down. 

Many  papers  took  up  the  cudgels  in  Dorothy's 
defence,  among  them  The  Morning  Post,  The  News, 
The  Sun,  The  Theatrical  Inquisitor  and  Bell's 
Weekly,  and  the  playgoing  public  showed  its  resent- 
ment in  the  theatre.  When,  some  nights  later, 
Dorothy  was  playing  Nell,  and  one  of  the  characters 
addressed  to  her  this  sentence,  "  You  have  an  honest 
face  and  need  not  be  ashamed  of  showing  it  anywhere," 
the  play  was  stopped  by  shouts  of  approval,  followed 
by  three  rounds  of  applause,  which  so  overcame  her 
that  she  burst  into  tears. 

Dorothy  heard  of  this  article  in  The  Times,  but  did 
not  trouble  even  to  see  it;  however,  the  Duke  must 
have  been  troubled,  and  it  appears  as  though  his  fac- 
totum, Barton,  drew  Dorothy's  attention  to  the  duty  ( !) 
she  owed  her  princely  light-o'-love.  Barton  reproduced 
the  letter  she  then  wrote  to  the  papers,  and  which  was 
widely  circulated  when,  ten  years  afterwards,  he  had 
to  make  a  public  defence  of  the  Duke,  and  he  intro- 
duced that  letter  into  his  defence  in  the  following 
words  :  "  Reflections  were  thrown  out  against  both  the 
Duke  and  herself;  whereupon  Mrs.  Jordan,  indignant 
at  the  attack  upon  His  Royal  Highness,  wrote  the 


3 so     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

following  letter,  which  was  published  in  the  papers  of 
the  day."  The  italics  are  mine;  she  had,  of  course,  no 
cause  to  be  indignant  on  her  own  account.  That  some 
such  negotiation  went  on  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
Dorothy's  dignified  and  restrained  letter  did  not 
appear  until  more  than  a  week  after  the  accusatory 
article. 

"  SIR, 

"  Though  I  did  not  see  the  morning  print  that 
contained  the  paragraph  alluded  to  in  your  liberal  and 
respectable  paper  of  yesterday,  yet  I  was  not  long  left 
in  ignorance  of  the  abuse  it  poured  out  against  me; 
this  I  could  silently  have  submitted  to,  but  I  was  by 
no  means  aware  that  the  writer  of  it  had  taken  the 
opportunity  of  throwing  out  insinuations  which  he 
thought  might  be  injurious  to  a  no  less  honourable 
than  illustrious  personage. 

"In  the  love  of  truth,  and  in  justice  to  His  Royal 
Highness,  I  think  it  my  duty,  publicly  and  unequivo- 
cally, to  declare  that  his  liberality  towards  me  has  been 
noble  and  generous  in  the  highest  degree.  But,  not 
having  it  in  his  power  to  extend  his  bounty  beyond  the 
term  of  his  own  existence,  he  has,  with  his  accustomed 
goodness  and  consideration,  allowed  me  to  endeavour 
to  make  that  provision  for  myself  which  an  event — 
that  better  feelings  than  those  of  interest  made  me 
hope  I  shall  never  live  to  see — would  entirely  deprive 
me  of. 

"  This,  then,  sir,  is  my  motive  for  returning  to  my 
profession.  I  am  too  happy  in  having  every  reason  to 
hope  and  believe  that,  under  these  circumstances,  I 
shall  not  offend  the  public  at  large  by  seeking  their 
support  and  protection,  and,  while  I  feel  that  I  possess 


Cupid  v.  Cash  351 

those,  I  shall  patiently  submit  to  that  species  of  un- 
manly persecution  which  a  female  so  particularly 
situated  must  always  be  subject  to.  Ever  ready  to 
acknowledge  my  deficiencies  in  that  respect,  I  trust  I 
may  add  that  I  shall  never  be  found  wanting  in 
candour  and  gratitude,  nor  forgetful  of  the  care  that 
every  individual  should  feel  for  the  good  opinion  of 
the  public. 

"  I  am,  sir, 

'*  Your  much  obliged,  humble  servant, 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

From  that  time  until  into  June  Dorothy  was  acting 
at  Covent  Garden.  On  June  22  both  she  and  Mrs. 
Siddons,  who  had  then  retired  from  the  stage,  appeared 
to  swell  the  receipts  for  the  benefit  of  the  Theatrical 
Fund  at  the  new  Drury  Lane,  which  had  opened  the 
previous  October.  Mrs.  Siddons  was  Lady  Randolph 
in  the  play  of  Douglas,  and  Dorothy  was  Beatrice  in 
The  Panel,  the  results  being  satisfactory  to  the  extent 
of  £983.  At  the  end  of  July  Mrs.  Jordan  went  to 
Ryde  to  open  the  new  theatre  there.  "  We  have  heard 
that  it  was  filled  every  night;  as  Mrs.  Jordan  per- 
formed there  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at."  From  Ryde 
she  should  have  gone  to  Brighton  where  she  had 
played  several  times  before,  and  once  more  had  been 
obliged  to  insist  upon  her  "  usual  terms."  In  this  plan, 
however,  she  found  herself  face  to  face  with  a  diffi- 
culty, and  the  Brighton  visit  was  put  off  until 
December.  For,  just  at  the  time  of  her  engagement, 
the  Regent,  the  Duke  of  Clarence  and  her  daughter 
Sophia  were  at  the  Pavilion,  while  the  papers  an- 
nounced that  the  Queen,  with  two  of  the  Princesses, 
intended  to  join  the  party.  The  awkwardness  of  such 


352     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

possible  meetings  was  too  much  for  Dorothy,  and  so 
the  engagement  was  postponed,  and  she  went  instead 
to  Portsmouth,  Guildford  and  other  southern  towns. 

It  was  a  position  to  make  the  gods  laugh!  The 
father  and  daughter  inmates  of  a  palace — "  The  Prince 
of  Orange  and  Miss  Fitzclarence  led  the  dance  at  the 
Regent's  ball  at  Brighton.  The  Duke  of  Clarence 
danced  with  great  vivacity" — the  mother  travelling 
from  town  to  town  to  earn  a  living,  and  shrinking  from 
showing  herself  in  the  same  place  as  the  man  to  whom 
she  had  given  everything,  and  with  whom  she  was 
forbidden  to  communicate  in  any  way. 

When,  at  the  beginning  of  January  1814,  the  Duke 
of  Clarence  went  on  a  visit  to  Holland,  and  started  on 
the  long  drive  to  Deal  as  early  as  7.45  in  the  morning, 
"  his  numerous  family  "  were  gathered  on  the  steps  of 
his  house  in  Stable  Yard,  St.  James's  Palace,  to  take 
an  affectionate  leave  of  their  loving  father.  There  is 
no  hint  anywhere  that  the  mother,  who  loved  this  same 
family  passionately,  was  ever  blessed  on  her  going  out 
or  her  coming  in  by  a  sight  of  their  happy  faces 
watching  her. 

From  the  autumn  of  1813  until  the  spring  of  1815 
Dorothy  was  acting  constantly.  Whitehaven,  Mar- 
gate, Brighton,  Sheffield,  Carlisle,  Blackburn,  Bir- 
mingham, Brussels  and  many  other  places  unnamed 
were  visited  by  her.  In  January  1814  she  was  again 
at  Bath,  and  from  February  to  June,  barring  an  interval 
of  severe  illness  in  March,  she  filled  her  engagement 
at  Covent  Garden,  acting  on  April  20  in  a  new  comedy, 
Debtor  and  Creditor,  said  to  be  the  last  new  part  she 
ever  took. 

In  spite  of  age  and  size  her  popularity  continued, 
for  she  had  secured  the  hearts  of  the  people.  "  To 


Cupid  v.  Cash  353 

praise  Mrs.  Jordan  is  an  act  of  officious  superfluity,  yet 
we  cannot  refrain  from  testifying  the  uncommon 
delight  of  the  audience  and  ourselves  at  her  persona- 
tion of  Rosalind;  the  triumph  of  mind  over  matter  in 
this  wonderful  performance  was  complete.  Her  voice, 
manner  and  look  were  all  in  perfect  conformity  with 
the  character;  the  depredations  of  time  and  the  dis- 
advantages of  person  are  forgotten  in  our  admiration 
of  that  naivete,  vivacity  and  irresistible  expression  of 
nature  which  characterizes  every  tone  and  motion. 
There  is  no  actress  whose  loss  will  be  more  generally 
felt  or  less  easily  supplied."  ^Theatrical  Inquisitor^] 
But,  in  spite  of  such  brave  words  from  her  friendly 
critics,  Dorothy  knew  that  she  could  not  work  much 
longer;  her  fits  of  illness — probably  brought  on  by 
over-exertion  and  exposure  to  all  the  draughts  and 
hardships  of  stage  life — recurred  with  alarming  fre- 
quency, and  she  was  too  old  for  the  only  parts  she 
could  play  most  successfully.  Yet  for  need's  sake  she 
persevered.  A  letter  from  Margate  in  the  summer  of 
1814  gives  an  impression  of  her  life  when  in  this  town, 
which  had  always  heartily  welcomed  her,  and  it  showed 
her  still  affectionately  regardful  of  her  friends,  the 
Lloyds,  at  Teddington. 

"Margate,  August  24,  1814. 

"  MY  DEAR  JANE, 

"  I  hope  this  will  find  you  as  well  as  I  wish.  I 
enclose  the  cap  for  your  dear  mother,  to  whom  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  I  beg  my  love.  This  place  is 
very  pleasant  now.  I  concluded  my  engagement  last 
Saturday,  which  turned  out  very  well.  I  am  anxious 
to  hear  of  John's  business.  The  libraries  are  crowded 
every  night;  it  is  the  only  public  amusement.  I  have 


354     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

gone  there  every  night  and  have  met  with  so  much 
attention  and  respect  that  were  both  embarrassing  and 
pleasing.  Seats  for  me  and  my  friend  are  kept  every 
night,  and  when  it  is  known  whom  they  are  for  nobody 
will  attempt  to  sit  in  them.  I  have  not  been  very  well ; 
I  have  had  spasms  across  my  kidneys — very  painful 
indeed.  I  have  just  heard  from  dear  George  and 
Dora,  who  is  going  on  very  well.  Adieu,  dear  Jane, 
for  the  present." 

The  cap  was  a  yearly  gift,  first  sent  at  the  time  when 
the  Lloyds  took  the  children  to  educate,  as  is  shown 
by  a  note  sent  to  Frances  all  those  years  before, 
enclosing  the  first  such  present,  with  Mrs.  Jordan's 
affectionate  regards  and  adding,  "  I  hope  to  have  the 
same  pleasure  every  year  on  the  same  occasion." 

Directly  after  the  date  of  the  letter  Dorothy  sailed 
from  Margate  for  Ostend  on  her  way  to  Brussels,  from 
which  place  she  planned  to  go  to  Lille  and  Paris.  But 
this  plan  was  not  carried  out;  she  returned  to  Margate 
on  September  19,  giving  her  friends  an  animated 
picture  of  the  gaiety  of  Brussels.  Was  it  sentiment 
which  took  her  to  the  sociable  Belgium  town  ?  It  is  at 
least  a  coincidence  that  Clarence  had,  on  his  way  home 
in  the  spring  of  the  year,  spent  a  month  there. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

THOSE   DOROTHY   LOVED 

"  Children  are  earthly  idols  that  hold  us  from  the  stars."— DOUGLAS 
JERROLD. 

"To  the  winds,  to  the  waves,  to  the  woods  I  complain, 

Ah,  well-a-day,  my  poor  heart ! 
They  hear  not  my  sighs,  and  they  heed  not  my  pain, 

Ah,  well-a-day,  my  poor  heart  ! 
"To  the  sun's  morning  splendour  the  poor  Indian  bows, 

Ah,  well-a-day,  my  poor  heart  ! 
But  7  dare  not  worship  where  I  pay  my  vows, 
Ah,  well-a-day,  my  poor  heart  1 " 

From  Song  sung  by  Dorothy  Jordan. 

WHILE  acting  in  Stratford  in  October  1814  Dorothy 
wrote  to  the  manager  of  the  theatre  at  Blackburn,  offer- 
ing to  play  there  one  or  two  nights  toward  the  end  of 
the  month,  "having  experienced  much  kindness  and 
attention  during  my  short  [earlier]  stay  at  Blackburn 
.  .  .  this  time  a  clear  half,"  and  she  asked  that  the 
reply  should  be  sent  to  Sheffield.  But  at  Sheffield  she 
had  an  attack  of  illness  and  only  played  one  night,  an 
illness  brought  on  by  her  anxiety  about  her  two  boys, 
George  and  Henry,  who  had  with  twenty-three  other 
officers  got  into  military  trouble. 

George  the  eldest  had  been  much  out  in  the  Penin- 
sula, having  in  1811  had  his  horse  shot  under  him  at 
Fuentes  d'Onoro,  been  wounded  and  taken  prisoner, 
though  he  contrived  to  escape  in  the  confusion.  On 
his  return  home  he  was  promoted  to  a  troop  in  the 
loth  Hussars,  and  went  out  again  in  1813,  his  brother 
Henry  accompanying  him  in  the  same  regiment.  Their 
chief  officer  was  Colonel  George  Quentin,  who  appar- 

355 


356     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ently  possessed  little  of  the  martial  spirit,  so  little  that 
on  the  return  to  England  twenty-five  of  his  commis- 
sioned officers  preferred  four  charges  against  him,  con- 
sisting of  neglect  and  abandonment  of  duty,  leaving 
some  of  his  divisions  without  orders  or  support  when 
attacked  by  the  enemy,  entirely  leaving  his  regiment 
in  one  battle,  and  allowing  a  relaxed  discipline. 

The  result  of  these  charges  was  a  court-martial  for 
the  Colonel  in  October  1814,  with  a  view,  not  to  judg- 
ing him  fairly,  but  to  re-establishing  his  character 
and  punishing  his  detractors.  The  trial  was  a  pure 
mockery,  the  feeling  in  military  high  quarters  being  at 
that  day — perhaps  it  is  in  this — that  the  men  should 
suffer  all  things  gladly,  even  being  given  over  to  death 
and  imprisonment  by  an  incapable  officer.  The  first 
charge  was  proved,  the  others  were  dismissed,  and 
Colonel  Quentin  was  reprimanded,  then  acquitted  and 
finally  reinstated  at  the  head  of  his  regiment.  The 
twenty-five  inferior  officers  were  kicked  out,  and  one 
by  one  were  drafted  into  other  regiments,  their  swords 
being  forfeited.  This  was  attributed  to  the  influence 
of  the  Duke  of  York,  Commander-in-Chief ,  backed  up 
by  the  Prince  Regent,  both  of  whom  fell  under  strong 
public  obloquy  because  of  their  partiality. 

The  two  Fitzclarence  boys — George  was  then 
twenty  and  Henry  two  years  younger — were  the 
especial  object  of  their  uncle's  wrath,  being  not  only 
turned  out  of  their  regiment,  but  banished  to  India. 
Even  that  was  not  enough,  for  the  Regent's  man, 
Colonel  M'Mahon,  wrote  to  the  superior  officer  under 
whom  they  sailed,  that  he  should  treat  them  with 
marked  disrespect  and  severity.  This  gallant  officer 
answered  that  he  "had  received  the  colonel's  letter, 
and  that  he  should  have  returned  it  with  the  contempt 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        357 

it  deserved,  but  that  he  chose  to  retain  it  that  he  might 
have  it  in  his  power  to  expose  him,  should  such  unfair 
and  offensive  conduct  be  repeated,  and  that  no  British 
officers  would  be  dictated  to  in  their  line  of  conduct 
with  those  under  their  command." 

Dorothy  loved  these  boys  so  much  that  worry  over 
the  trial,  which  occurred  towards  the  end  of  October, 
was  quite  enough  to  incapacitate  her  from  work,  and 
so  to  lose  her  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  The 
following  letter  alludes  to  this  as  well  as  to  the  affairs 
of  Alsop,  whose  insurance  money  she  was  still  paying, 
though  he  had  been  gone  from  England  a  year  and  a 
half.  The  insurance  society  had  evidently  demanded 
a  larger  fee  because  of  the  extra  risk  of  life  in  a  foreign 
land. 

"  Whitehaven,  November  nth,  1814. 

"  MY  DEAR  [Edward  March], 

"  This  moment  only  have  I  received  both  your 
letters,  therefore  you  will  not  be  surprised  that  I  grew 
uneasy.  The  other  half  of  the  cheque  you  will  have 
received  by  this  time ;  so  far  all  is  right.  It  was  from 
Howard's  own  mouth  that  I  got  the  disagreeable 
information,  that  I  was  liable  to  pay  the  additional 
insurance  on  Alsop's  life.  I  need  not  tell  you,  my 
dear  [Edward],  how  much  obliged  I  should  be  to  you 
if  you  would  regularly  arrange  this  very  disagreeable 
and  unfortunate  business  for  me.  I  trust  that  the 
heavy  addition  will  be  prevented,  and  I  am  truly  sorry 
that  you  have  not  been  comfortable.  What  has  been 
the  matter? 

"  I  have  been  very  ILL,  but  do  not  let  them  know  of 
it  at  home.  So  much  so,  that  I  was  obliged  to  give  up 
my  engagement  at  Sheffield  after  playing  only  one 


358     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

night,  which  was  doubly  unlucky  from  the  prospect 
there  was  of  great  success.  I  lose  £150  by  it.  I  am 
doing  very  well  here,  but  the  theatre  is  not  large 
enough.  God  bless  you  all ! 

'  Your  affectionate, 

"D.  J. 

"  P.S. — I  believe  I  shall  go  to  Edinburgh — but 
Newcastle  first." 

March  must  have  written  her  some  letter  of  com- 
plaint, perhaps  upon  the  ever-pressing  subject  of 
money,  or  even  more  likely  upon  Mrs.  Alsop,  who  was 
then  living  in  Cadogan  Place,  and  who  about  this  time 
committed  an  unforgivable  sin  in  Dorothy's  eyes. 

In  this  the  biographers  once  again  show  their  casual- 
ness  about  dates,  indeed,  scarcely  a  fact  they  assert 
can  be  accepted  in  point  of  time  without  corroboration. 
For  instance,  they  all  pack  into  one  year  the  Alsop 
ruin,  and  the  banishment  of  the  Fitzclarences,  yet  the 
two  events  were  just  two  years  apart.  Boaden  actually 
gives  cause  and  effect  in  the  matter  of  Frances  Alsop, 
and  quite  unconsciously  puts  the  cause  later  than  the 
effect,  making  her  letters  to  the  Duke  the  result  of 
having  to  support  herself  upon  nothing. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  she  still  was,  as  she  ever  had 
been,  her  mother's  care,  and  was  being  supported  by 
her.  However,  being  more  or  less  deprived  of  money 
for  extravagance  she  was  miserable,  for  she  was  a 
spendthrift  in  every  way.  Casting  about  for  a  means 
of  securing  what  she  wanted  her  thoughts  naturally 
went  to  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  resulted  in  a  series 
of  "  virulent  and  violent  letters,"  by  which  she  hoped 
to  get  money.  She  may  have  enjoyed  writing  the 
letters,  but  he  naturally  objected  to  receiving  them, 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        359 

for  Frances  knew  all  there  was  to  know  about  the 
monetary  transactions  between  him  and  her  mother, 
and  was  in  a  situation  both  to  make  pressing  demands, 
and  to  say  very  pointed  things. 

The  useful  Barton — and  a  witness  named  Wilkes — 
went  to  Cadogan  Place  and  interviewed  Mr.  March 
(Dorothy  being  in  the  North  at  the  time).  That  March 
was  known  to  be  in  monetary  difficulties  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  suspected  of  being  the  instigator 
of  these  letters.  However,  he  managed  to  clear  him- 
self entirely,  and  gave  all  the  necessary  assurances. 

He,  of  course,  wrote  to  Dorothy  on  the  matter,  and 
the  following  is  one  of  the  letters  sent  in  return  by  the 
distracted  mother. 

"  Carlisle,  Saturday,  December  3rd,  1814. 

"  I  was  prevented  by  illness,  both  of  body  and  mind, 
the  last  time  I  wrote,  from  saying  one  half  of  what  it 
is  necessary  should  be  now  perfectly  understood  with 
regard  to  Mrs.  Alsop.  You  say  that  in  order  to  assist 
her  you  must  spend  ^30  or  £40.  I  am  sorry  for  it,  as 
it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  reimburse  you ;  and  trust 
the  love  and  duty  you  owe  to  your  own  family  will 
interfere,  and  point  out  to  you  the  injustice  of  it.  You 
talk  of  Mrs.  A.'s  desire  to  go  to  her  husband.  If  it 
were  affection  or  duty  that  prompted  her  I  should  pity, 
though  even  in  that  case  it  would  at  this  time  be  out 
of  my  power  to  forward  her  wishes ;  but  this  is  not  the 
case,  as  you  must  know.  I  have  at  present  melancholy, 
but  far  better  claims  on  me — claims  that,  to  my  bitter 
remorse,  I  have  almost  deprived  myself  of  the  means 
of  affording  to  two  amiable  children  by  having  lavished 
them  on  one.  She  never  could  have  been  sensible  of 
the  sacrifice,  or  I  should  not  have  met  with  such 


360     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

ingratitude.  For  the  last  time,  dear  [Edward],  shall 
this  subject  ever  employ  my  pen,  and  I  trust  you  will 
give  it  the  attention  I  feel  due  to  it.  In  the  event  of  Mrs. 
A.'s  going  abroad,  I  must  sink  another  £100  per  year 
to  the  £260  (independent  of  the  additional  insurance 
on  A.'s  life),  making  in  all  near  ,£400  a  year.  He  has 
no  employment,  and  how  will  he  support  her?  And 
am  I  to  have  the  additional  misery  of  thinking  that  she 
may  be  starving  in  a  foreign  land?  I  therefore,  for 
the  last  time,  most  solemnly  declare  to  her,  through 
you,  that  these  are  the  last  and  only  propositions  that 
shall  ever  be  offered.  THAT  she  shall  go  to  her  uncle 
in  Wales,  when  I  will  pay  £40  a  year  for  her  board  and 
lodging,  allowing  her  £50  a  year  for  clothes,  till  such 
time  [as]  her  husband  may  be  able  to  maintain  her 
abroad,  when  every  exertion  shall  be  made  to  send  her 
out.  If  she  refuses  this,  I  here  swear,  by  the  most 
heart-breaking  oath  that  presents  itself  to  my  tortured 
mind,  that  '  may  I  never  again  see  those  two  sacrificed 
young  men,  if  I  ever  (if  possible)  think  of  her  again, 
as  a  child  that  has  any  claim  on  ME.'  And  I  shall  be 
led  to  doubt  the  affection  of  any  one  who  may,  by  a 
mistaken  motive,  endeavour  to  make  me  break  an  oath 
so  seriously  and  solemnly  taken.  If  she  has  an  atom 
of  feeling,  and  wishes  to  regain  any  part  of  my  affec- 
tion, she  will  instantly  agree  to  this ;  if  NOT  the  £90  a 
year  shall  be  regularly  paid  to  her  so  long  as  I  have  it 
to  give.  Let  her  not  look  on  this  as  a  banishment,  let 
her  look  on  the  fate  of  two  gallant  young  men,  sub- 
mitting to  a  cruel  exile  without  a  murmur,  whatever 
they  may  feel.  I  shall  send  a  plan  to  Mrs.  Williams, 
and  shall  be  under  the  disagreeable  necessity,  my  dear 
[Edward],  of  withdrawing  from  you  the  little  addition 
I  could  have  wished  to  continue  to  you.  When  every- 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        361 

thing  is  adjusted,  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  remain 
in  England.  I  shall,  therefore,  go  abroad,  appro- 
priating as  much  as  I  can  spare  of  the  remainder  of 
my  income  to  pay  my  debts.  And  now,  my  dear 
[Edward],  for  the  last  time  on  this  cruel  subject, 
adieu !  I  write  this  from  a  sleepless  pillow.  God 
bless  you  all !  I  shall  be  home  by  the  i$th  or  i6th. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  give  up  all  my  engagements. 
Love  to  all. 

'  Your  affectionate, 

"D.  J. 

"  For  the  little  time  I  shall  be  in  C[adogan]  Place, 
after  the  departure  of  all  happiness;  tell  dear  Lucy 
that  I  will  pay  her  three  guineas  per  week,  for  myself, 
Miss  S.,  and  the  two  servants,  finding  our  own  tea, 
sugar  and  wine.  Be  silent  on  the  subject  of  my  going 
abroad,  or  it  may  embarrass  me." 

The  postscript  of  this  proves  that  Lucy  Hawker 
was  the  actual  or  temporary  (Dora  being  ill)  house- 
keeper at  Cadogan  Place,  just  as  a  postscript  to  a 
later  letter  shows  that  Dora  March  was  settled  there. 
Thus  Dorothy's  three  eldest  children  with  their 
belongings — both  Hawkers  and  Marchs  had  several 
children — were  living  in  a  house  leased  and  furnished 
by  Dorothy.  Consistent  self-sacrifice  is  a  virtue 
carried  to  its  extreme,  and  therefore  a  mistake.  If 
Dorothy's  nature  had  not  been  so  "  loving  and  giving," 
if  she  had  in  her  turn  demanded,  her  children  might 
have  had  more  independence  and  backbone,  they 
might  not  have  taken  with  two  hands  and  refused  to 
give  with  one.  Sorrows  had  come  so  thickly  upon 
her,  that  she  thought  the  loss  of  her  two  eldest 
sons  must  mark  the  supreme  misery.  Poor  thing ! 


362     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

it  was  well  that  she  could  not  see  what  was  still  to 
come. 

The  uncle  who  was  to  receive  Frances  was 
Dorothy's  brother  Nathaniel,  living  then  quietly  in 
the  little  country  place,  Trelethyn.  Taking  into 
account  his  gentle,  retiring  nature,  he  would  have  been 
worthy  of  pity  had  he  really  been  saddled  with  the 
company  of  such  a  rip.  Alsop  eventually  secured  the 
post  of  chief  magistrate  in  Calcutta,  and  held  it  to 
his  death  in  1826,  living  there  with  a  white  woman 
by  whom  he  had  three  children,  and  for  whom  a 
subscription  was  raised  when  he  departed  this  life. 

By  this  letter  it  is  obvious  that  Frances  was  no 
longer  drawing  from  Coutts's  bank  her  £200  a  year; 
either  it  was  not  being  paid  by  the  Duke,  or  it  was 
ear-marked  for  the  creditors.  Had  she  still  got  it  her 
mother  would  not  be  offering  to  raise  with  difficulty 
£90  a  year  for  her  support.  It  also  shows  that 
Dorothy  was  in  desperate  need  of  money,  as,  though 
she  made  £150  by  an  engagement,  she  could  not 
repay  the  sum  of  £30  expended  by  March  on  her 
daughter's  behalf;  and,  to  pay  the  £90  a  year  for 
Frances,  she  must  withdraw  "  the  little  allowance  " 
she  would  have  wished  to  continue  to  her  favourite 
son-in-law.  Could  a  person  enjoying  an  independent 
income  of  over  £2000  a  year  (according  to  Barton)  and 
earning  as  much  again,  have  been  so  troubled  over 


It  must  be  noted  that  even  then  Dorothy  looked 
upon  France  as  a  possible  resort,  where  she  could  get 
rest  from  the  demands  made  upon  her,  and  also  by 
being  there  in  the  worst  parts  of  the  year  improve  her 
health.  So  thoroughly  was  she  looking  forward  to 
this  that  she  was  offering  first  to  one  son-in-law  and 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        363 

then  to  the  other  the  chance  of  taking  the  house,  in 
which  both  lived,  off  her  hands. 

There  had  evidently  been  a  suggestion  on  the  part 
of  Frances  Alsop  that  she  should  go  out  to  India  and 
join  her  husband,  and  either  she  or  some  one  else  had 
added  the  idea  that  she  should  go  in  the  same  ship 
as  her  half-brothers  George  and  Henry.  This  Dorothy 
knew  would  not  be  feasible,  though  she  wrote  to 
George  about  it.  Her  next  letter  deals  with  this  point, 
a  letter  which  followed  quickly  upon  the  other. 

"Carlisle,  Sunday,  December  4th,  1814. 

"  MY  DEAR  [Edward], 

"  When  I  received  your  letter  relative  to  Fanny, 
I  immediately  wrote  to  George,  without  endeavouring 
to  prejudice  him  in  the  smallest  degree,  but  was  not 
at  all  surprised  at  the  enclosed  answer,  which  you  may 
show  [to  her]  or  not,  as  you  shall  judge  best.  You 
have,  of  course,  received  my  last.  I  will  spare  what  I 
can  to  send  her  to  Wales,  and  enable  her  uncle  to 
receive  her  comfortably.  Whenever  Alsop  is  in  a 
situation  to  provide  for,  or  maintain,  her  abroad,  I  will 
exert  my  utmost  to  send  her  to  him. 

All  personal  discussions  on  such  subjects  are  doubly 
painful,  therefore,  my  dear  [Edward],  to  prevent  such 
I  take  the  opportunity  of  repeating  this  by  letter,  and, 
in  future,  I  have  only  to  refer  Fanny  to  my  last  letter 
to  you.  If  she  and  Mrs.  Williams  should  prefer  living 
in  any  cheap  part  of  France,  they  may  do  it  to  more 
advantage.  It  is  very  probable  that  I  shall  find  it 
necessary  to  live  there  thy  best  part  of  every  year. 
Dear  George's  account  of  everybody  in  Cadogan 
Place,  gives  me  great  pleasure.  I  could  wish  Mrs. 
Alsop  and  Mrs.  Williams  would  make  up  their  minds 


364     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

before  I  return.     I  shall  be  back,  if  those  dear  boys 
go  soon,  by  the  I5th  or  i6th.     God  bless  you  all. 

'  Yours  affectionate, 

(Signed)     "D.  J." 

The  letter  from  Captain  George  Fitzclarence — 

"  London,  December  2nd,  1814. 

"  MY  DEAREST  MOTHER, 

"  Nothing  is  yet  settled  when  we  start ;  but  we 
are  to  go  out  in  Admiral  Boulton's  ship,  who  goes  out 
to  take  command  in  India.  I  am  now  certain  to  join 
Lord  Moira ;  but,  if  anything  is  said  about  it,  the  Duke 
of  York  will  give  me  positive  orders  to  join  my  horrid 
regiment.1  I  really  think  we  go  out  in  the  happiest 
way,  and  ought,  if  we  choose  to  stay  long  enough,  to 
make  our  fortune.  My  father,  poor  soul,  has  suffered 
much,  but  is  now  better;  his  anxiety  actually  made 
him  very  ill,  but  both  go  in  the  same  ship,  which  is 
a  great  comfort.  Although  we  are  a  long  way  from 
each  other  (700  miles),  yet  I  hope,  should  any  good 
situation  offer,  to  bring  Henry  to  Calcutta.  The  girls 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  it  very  well.  March  did 
not  mention  anything  about  Fanny ;  but  I  cannot  take 
her  on  board  the  King's  ship.  It  will  be  impossible ; 
I  would  not  shackle  myself  with  her.  M'Mahon 
gives  me  the  most  certain  assurances  of  Alsop  being 
provided  for.  I  will  do  all  I  can;  but  I  cannot  take 
Fanny  out  with  us.  It  will  cost  £3000  to  get  us  out  to 
India — where  is  all  this  to  come  from  ?  " 

Here  the  letter  breaks  off  unfinished. 

1  George  had  been  transferred  to  the  24th  Light  Dragoons,  then  in 
India,  but  hoped  to  be  retained  in  the  suite  of  Lord  Moira. 


Those  Dorothy  Loved       365 

George  Fitzclarence  ended  this  part  of  his  letter  as 
most  of  Dorothy's  children  seem  to  have  ended  their 
affectionate  intercourse  with  her,  on  the  "  money " 
note:  "Where  is  all  this  to  come  from?"  He  prob- 
ably knew  that  his  mother  would  be  ready  to  sell  her 
frocks,  her  house,  her  comfort  and  her  health  to  help 
in  such  a  difficulty,  and  he  knew  also  that  his  father, 
"poor  soul,"  was  too  helpless,  too  extravagant,  too 
penniless  to  give  them  so  much  money.  Between  her 
fits  of  illness  Dorothy  was  working  at  the  top  of  her 
strength,  and  what  for?  That  she  might  get  free  of 
Alsop's  difficulties,  settle  Frances  Alsop,  smooth  the 
path  of  Edward  March,  and  find  money  to  help  "  two 
gallant  young  men  "  to  go  out  to  exile  in  comfort. 

The  receipt  of  George's  letter  raised  vague  fears 
in  her  mind,  and  she  at  once  wrote  to  the  people  who 
acted  as  go-between  with  her  and  the  Duke,  the  kindly 
family  who  were  always  ready  to  soothe  her  with  news. 
She  does  not  write  to  the  Duke,  even  epistolary  com- 
munication had  been  stopped,  and  yet  it  is  evident  that 
her  heart  was  filled  with  sympathy  and  affection  for 
him. 

"  Mrs.  Jordan  at  Carlisle  to  Miss  Lloyd,  Teddington, 

Middlesex: 

"Sunday,  December  6th,  1814. 

"  I  do  not  know,  my  dear  Jane,  how  to  acknowledge 
or  value  sufficiently  your  kind,  considerate  and 
friendly  letter.  I  write  this  from  my  bed — by  all 
accounts  the  dear  Duke  has  been  very  ill,  he  has 
indeed,  for  I  can  judge  of  his  heart  by  my  own, 
formerly  we  supported  each  other,  but  when  I  reflect 
what  those  dear  gallant  boys  have  done,  I  feel  nothing 
but — never  mind,  have  they  not  acted  according  to 


366     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

their  feelings  of  honour,  and  what  can  a  man  do  more  ? 
I  do  not  understand  where  Henry  is  to  be — at  least 
700  miles  from  his  brother,  but  where?  I  shall  be  back 
on  the  1 5th  or  i6th  of  this  month.  I  am  not  able  to 
continue  my  engagements.  I  have  kept  my  bed  many 
days  to  the  moment  of  my  going  to  the  theatre.  My 
nights  have  been  literally  sleepless,  and  if  it  was  not 
for  a  few  hours'  sleep  in  the  day  I  think  my  mind  and 
memory  would  have  suffered  very  much.  .  .  .  Miss 
S.  is  all  kindness  and  attention.  Dear,  affectionate 
Frederick  has  told  me  of  your  kindness  in  constantly 
writing;  your  account  of  Sophy's  conduct  gives  me 
much  pleasure.  Tell  dear  Eliza  and  Mary  that  I  will 
write  soon.  Love  to  your  dear  mother. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  D.  JD. 
"Going  to  bed  with  a  raging  headache." 

In  the  next  letter  she  offers  the  house  to  the  General, 
and  repeats  her  intention  of  going  abroad  if  she  cannot 
go  on  with  her  work. 

"  Carlisle,  December  6th,  1814. 

"  MY  DEAR  EDWARD, 

"I  shall  be  home  by  January1  I5th  or  i6th. 
Truly  sorry  am  I  to  be  under  the  necessity  of  disturbing 
dear  Dora  [then  recovering  from  a  confinement] ;  sooner 
than  do  so,  if  I  was  not  very  unwell,  I  would  take 
lodgings.  The  enclosed  to  the  General  contains  a 
proposition,  similar  to  the  one  I  made  you,  concerning 
the  house,  which,  if  it  does  not  appear  eligible  to  him, 
I  shall  dispose  of  as  soon  as  possible ;  and,  if  not  able 
to  follow  my  profession,  I  shall  immediately  go 
abroad.  God  bless  you  ! 

"D.  J. 

1  A  mistake  for  December. 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        367 

"  P.S. — I  trust  in  God  you  will  exert  yourself  in 
pointing  out  to  Fanny  the  absolute  necessity  of  her 
prompt  compliance  with  the  proposal ;  in  which  case, 
she  shall  ever  find  me  her  mother  and  friend." 

The  last  letter  in  this  series  shows  the  beginning  of 
the  shadow  which  was  to  cover  and  blacken  the  end 
of  her  life. 

"Mv  EVER  DEAR  [Edward], 

"  I  thank  your  kind  and  considerate  letter  and 
reap  all  the  consolation  from  it  that  my  present  melan- 
choly situation  will  allow  of.  I  inclose  the  notes.  I 
have  just  written  to  dear  Dora.  God  bless  you  all. 

"  D.  J." 

One  may  imagine  Edward  March  helpful,  agree- 
able, ever  fascinating  to  Dorothy,  giving  her  sympathy 
and  kindly  words,  yet  adding  his  petition  to  those  of 
all  the  others.  "  I  am  in  such  and  such  a  difficulty, 
it  is  very  little,  if  you  would  help  me,  simply  a 
temporary  affair ;  you  know  you  may  trust  me  to  repay 
it,"  etc.  And  then,  grateful  for  his  sympathy,  trusting 
and  believing  in  him  she  sends  him  the  notes  for  which 
he  begs,  either  bank  notes  or  notes  of  hand,  the  space 
for  the  amount  left  blank ! 

Mrs.  Alsop  had  no  intention  of  going  to  Wales, 
nothing  but  London  with  its  life  and  variety  would 
suit  her,  and  when  her  brother-in-law,  indignant  at  the 
visit  of  Barton  which  she  had  brought  upon  him,  for- 
bade her  ever  again,  while  in  his  house — his  house, 
modest  man  ! — to  write  another  letter  of  the  kind,  she 
packed  her  things  and  left  her  mother's  home  for 
good.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  happened  before 
Dorothy's  return  to  London,  and  that  she  had  not  to 


368     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

endure  the  pain  of  seeing  her  go.  Frances  intended 
to  have  amusement  at  any  cost,  so  she  "assumed  a 
conduct  which  cannot  but  be  deeply  regretted."  The 
result  of  which  conduct  was  shown  when  she  was  acting 
in  the  autumn. 

Dorothy's  reputation  was  sufficient  to  gain  Mrs. 
Alsop  an  engagement  at  Drury  Lane,  which  began  on 
October  18,  1815,  and  during  which  she  acted  Rosa- 
lind five  times  and  the  Country  Girl  once,  "  and  that, 
probably  was  as  much  as  she  could  venture  before 
Christmas."  As  one  contemporary  critic  gently  wrote  : 
"  Of  her  figure  it  would  be  unjust  at  present  to  speak. 
She  appears  to  be  far  advanced  in  the  style  in  which 
ladies  wish  to  be  who  love  their  lords."  And  Frances's 
lord  had  been  out  of  England  two  and  a  half  years ! 

In  March  1815  Dorothy  saw  her  boys  leave  her  for 
ever,  though  mercifully  she  was  not  aware  of  that. 
From  that  time  the  records  of  the  few  remaining 
months  that  she  spent  in  England  are  almost  non- 
existing.  She  was  acting  in  Bath  the  early  part  of 
January,  and  it  was  then  that  Charlton,  the  stage 
manager,  suggested  that  she  should  take  the  part  of 
the  old  maid  in  the  play  of  that  name,  her  answer 
being  that  she  would  not  do  so,  she  had  done  it  once 
as  a  frolic  for  her  benefit,  but  would  not  act  such  parts 
again. 

After  this  the  account  of  her  engagements  ceases, 
not  because  the  public  had  grown  tired  of  her,  for  she 
had  many  applicants  for  her  services,  but  that  before 
her  sons  went  away  she  could  think  of  little  else  and 
wanted  to  be  in  London,  and  afterwards  she  was  too 
prostrated  by  grief  to  be  able  to  work. 

In  May  1815  Bannister,  the  man  with  whom  she 
had  so  often  acted,  announced  his  determination  to 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        369 

take  his  leave  of  the  stage  in  a  benefit  performance 
on  June  17,  and  he  wrote  to  Dorothy  asking  her  to 
act  for  the  last  time  with  him.  Her  answer,  written 
on  May  3,  will  explain  why  she  had  to  refuse,  and 
shows  incidentally  how  many  were  her  chances  of 
work  if  only  she  could  have  seized  them. 

"May  the  3rd. 
"  MY  DEAR  SlR, 

'  Your  letter  came  at  the  time  Sir  Gilbert,  my 
physician,  was  with  me,  or  I  would  not  have  sent  your 
servant  away  without  an  answer,  for  it  was  my  inten- 
tion to  have  written  to  you  at  all  events  this  evening. 

"/  am  very  ill,  and  in  the  sincerity  of  my  good 
wishes  request  you  to  give  up  all  thought  of  me.  My 
health  is  in  so  very  precarious  a  state  that  I  have  not 
been  two  days  together  out  of  my  own  rooms  since  my 
return  home :  so  situated,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
refuse  many  applications,  including  one  very  pressing 
one  from  the  Caledonian  Society. 

"  I  have  been  obliged  to  give  up  one  of  considerable 
advantage  that  was  to  have  commenced  at  this  very 
time,  and  I  have,  too,  some  reason  to  fear  that  I  shall 
be  under  the  necessity  of  forfeiting  one  still  more  so ; 
that,  too,  was  to  have  begun  at  the  end  of  this  month, 
and  to  have  concluded  in  the  middle  of  June.  You 
perceive  how  unfortunately  I  am  situated,  for  if  I 
should  be  well  enough  to  play  on  the  ist  of  June  in 
London,  I  should  be  able  to  fulfil  my  engagements  in 
the  country,  if  not  the  consequence  would  be  that  I 
must  disappoint  you.  Added  to  this  my  friend  and 
medical  adviser  is  very  anxious  that  I  should  give  up 
every  hope  of  playing  this  summer,  and  as  soon  as  I 
am  able,  to  repair  to  the  seaside,  from  which  I  felt 
some  relief  last  year. 

A  A 


370     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

"  Do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that,  independent  of 
my  own  sufferings,  it  is  a  real  mortification  to  me  to 
be  deprived  of  the — what  shall  I  say,  pleasure  or 
pain? — of  witnessing  the  last  exertions  of  one  of  the 
most  genuine  performers  of  the  age.  May  every 
happiness  attend  you. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"DORA  JORDAN." 

It  was  on  May  19  that  she  wrote  a  short  and  signi- 
ficant note  to  Mrs.  Lloyd.  Putting  the  two  letters 
together,  what  is  to  be  thought  of  Harrington's 
inspired  paragraph  asserting  that  she  earned  £7000 
this  last  year? 

He  was  a  most  subservient  receiver  of  favours,  and 
never  stinted  that  gratitude  which  he  hoped  would 
encourage  other  favours  to  follow.  In  his  white- 
washing of  the  Duke  he  had  the  effrontery  to  assert 
of  Dorothy's  income  "that  the  very  last  year  she 
remained  in  England  brought  her  a  clear  profit  of 
near  £7000.  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  this  statement, 
for  my  authority  could  not  err  on  that  point.  The 
malicious  representations,  therefore,  of  her  having 
been  left  straitened  in  pecuniary  circumstances  were 
literally  fabulous"  etc. 

The  following  note  is  a  pungent  satire  upon  the 
biographer's  extravagant  assertion — 

"  DEAR  MRS.  LLOYD, 

"  I  return  you  the  one-pound  note  with  many 
thanks;  best  regards  to  you  all. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  DORA  JORDAN. 

"  10  o'clock  night,  igth  May,  1815." 


Those  Dorothy  Loved        371 

How  could  Dorothy  have  earned  £7000  a  year? — 
an  engagement  for  six  or  seven  nights  for  which  she 
received  £150  would  take  two  or  three  weeks  to  com- 
plete, for  she  only  acted  two  or  perhaps  three  evenings 
a  week.  At  that  rate,  if  she  worked  without  cessation 
the  whole  year  round  she  would  only  have  gained 
£2500.  Who  was  Harrington's  unassailable  authority? 
By  whose  influence  did  he  further  assert  that  Dorothy 
acted,  when  tired  of  the  stage  and  all  its  ways,  simply 
because  she  was  infatuated  with  it,  and  how  could  he 
tell  that  the  Duke  had  no  concern  directly  or  indirectly 
with  the  cruel  and  disastrous  circumstances  which 
caused  the  last  catastrophe? 

I  fear  Harrington,  like  some  other  gentlemen,  did 
protest  too  much  and  show  too  plainly  where  he  learnt 
his  lesson,  for  Clarence  was  hard  put  to  it  to  find 
apologists  when  all  the  circumstances  of  Dorothy's 
death  were  made  public. 

By  this  time  her  third  son  Frederick,  said  to  be  by 
far  the  best  looking  of  the  five  boys,  had  gone  out 
into  the  world  to  prove  his  courage,  and  this  sixteen- 
year-old  boy  was  in  one  of  the  greatest  battles  that 
the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  Dorothy  had  gone  on 
that  revivifying  trip  to  the  sea  of  which  mention  has 
been  made  earlier,  and  from  the  unnamed  town  she 
wrote  to  Miss  Lloyd  in  answer  to  a  letter  telling  her 
of  the  results  of  Waterloo.  It  should  be  noted  that 
she  wrote  to  ask  a  simple  thing  about  the  whereabouts 
of  her  son,  and  again  wrote,  not  to  the  Duke  who  had 
the  information,  but  to  her  old  friend,  who  was 
evidently  in  constant  touch  with  him  and  with  her 
children. 


372     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

"(Postmark)  June  24th,  1815. 

"  MY  DEAR  JANE, 

"  I  return  you  many  thanks  for  your  very  kind 
attention.  I  wish  I  had  seen  the  paper,  and  my  mind 
is  for  the  present  much  relieved,  but  what  I  have 
suffered  for  these  few  days  past  is  beyond  description. 
I  have  not  yet  recovered  [from]  it,  but  ought  [to  be], 
and  indeed  [am],  most  thankful  to  God  for  his  pre- 
servation of  that  dear  object  of  my  constant  anxiety. 
I  had  a  most  charming  letter  from  [him]  only  two 
days  before  the  battle.  He  desires  me  to  send  him  a 
small  canteen  that  I  have  got  for  him,  and  [I]  should 
be  obliged,  dear  Jane,  if  you  will  find  out  how  I  can 
send  it,  and  where  I  am  now  to  direct  to  him.  This  is  a 
delightful  spot,  but  I  have  really  suffered  great  anxiety 
in  it,  but  I  will  trust  in  God's  mercy  and  hope  for 
happier  days.  My  blessing  [on]  the  dear  children  and 
best  regards  to  all  your  family." 

There  was  one  more  and  a  very  significant  letter 
which  was  written  from  Cadogan  Place  early  in 
August,  and  which  again  shows  that  even  in  distress 
she  was  not  allowed  to  apply  personally  to  Clarence, 
though  he  only  could  have  helped  her.  The  letter 
does  not  give  the  year,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  as 
to  when  it  was  written,  as  John  Pyne  Coffin  was  on 
foreign  service  until  July  1814,  when  he  returned  from 
Genoa,  where  he  had  been  under  the  command  of 
Lord  William  Bentinck,  and  was  given  the  rank  of 
Brevet-Colonel.  During  this  year  in  England — he 
left  again  towards  the  end  of  1815 — he  got  into  money 
difficulties  and  his  appeal  for  help  was  passed  on  to 
Dorothy,  which  points  to  the  probability  that  his  debts 
had  had  something  to  do  with  the  young  Fitzclarences, 


Those  Dorothy  Loved         373 

who,  knowing  their  father's  usual  impecunious  state 
and  their  mother's  loving  generosity,  took  the  line  of 
least  resistance  and  enlisted  her  sympathy.  She  paid 
the  money  and  procured  the  freedom  of  the  unmanly 
soldier  from  the  sponging-house  in  which  he  lan- 
guished, receiving  a  foul  reward,  as  her  letter  shows. 

"  To  the  Rev.  Thomas  Lloyd,  Teddington, 
Middlesex: 

"  Cadogan  Place,  7  o'clock,  August  3. 
"  MY  DEAR  SlR, 

"  I  some  time  since  wrote  to  you  inclosing  a 
letter  from  Col.  Coffin,  and  requesting  you  to  procure 
from  the  Duke  of  Clarence  an  answer  bearing  a  fair 
testimony  to  my  assertion  that  H.R.H.  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  money  transaction  that  took  place 
between  the  Col.  and  me  when  he  was  detained  in  a 
sponging-house  in  London.  I  am  now  the  more 
anxious  for  the  Duke's  answer,  having  received  a  very 
insolent  and  ungrateful  letter  from  the  Col.,  insinuat- 
ing that  I  had  received  the  money  from  the  Duke  and 
took  advantage  of  Col.  Coffin  in  applying  to  him  for 
a  second  payment — this  is  an  injustice  that  I  will  not 
sit  down  quietly  under. 

"  I  have  been  very  ill  indeed,  and  am  at  this  moment 
so  weak  that  I  can  scarcely  guide  my  pen ;  before  I  go 
from  town  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  see  Jane,  to  whom, 
and  Mrs.  Lloyd,  I  beg  to  be  kindly  remembered,  and 
now  believe  me,  my  dear  friend,  yours  sincerely, 

"  D.  JORDAN." 

It  was  August  3  that  Dorothy  wrote  the  letter  to 
Mr.  Lloyd  about  Col.  Coffin,  and  when  she  left  town 
it  was  to  go  to  Margate  to  appear  for  the  last  time  on 
any  stage. 


374     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

A  statement  was  made  from  memory  many  years 
later  by  Edward  March  saying  that  she  left  England 
in  August,  but  John  Barton  asserts  that  he  went  to  see 
her  in  September  of  that  year,  and  as  he  could  fortify 
himself  with  documents  this  was  more  likely  to  be 
correct. 

She  must  have  returned  home  sometime  before  the 
end  of  August,  returned  to  endure  that  further  dis- 
astrous blow  which  was  to  exile  her  from  England. 

There  has  been  much  mystery  made  of  this,  because 
no  one  dared  at  the  time  to  tell  the  truth  about  it; 
March,  Barton  and  the  Duke  being  the  chief  people 
implicated.  The  first  from  weakness,  the  second  from 
misplaced  astuteness,  and  the  third  from  callousness. 
Each  one  of  these  three  could  have  cleared  the  matter 
up,  and  each  one  was  too  much  to  blame  ever  to  do 
more  than  deal  vaguely  with  the  fringe  of  the  trouble 
and  endeavour  to  persuade  those  who  wanted  to  know 
that  the  only  real  fault  lay  in  Dorothy's  hysterical 
misconception. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Dorothy  came  home  to  find 
Edward  March  in  despair,  asserting  that  difficulties 
had  so  crowded  upon  him  that  he  was  ruined. 
Dorothy  had  heard  this  story  from  others,  from  Alsop, 
from  George  and  Henry,  from  Clarence  and  from 
Frances  Alsop,  and  had  suffered  so  cruelly  at  each 
calamity,  that  she  was  past  bearing  it  over  again  with 
anything  like  philosophic  calm. 

She  was  overwhelmed,  and  when  she  asked  March 
how  far  she  was  implicated,  she  was  seized  with  a 
terror  which  was  great  enough  almost  to  upset  her 
reason.  For  this  man  to  whom  she  had  always  given 
trust  and  affection  had  repaid  her  magnanimity  by 
filling  in  the  notes  she  had  sent  him  with  sums  quite 


Those  Dorothy  Loved         375 

different  from  those  he  had  named  to  her!  He 
appears  reluctantly  to  have  brought  out  one  note  of 
hand  after  another,  each  signed  by  her  name  and 
promising  payment  of  a  comparatively  large  sum,  until 
she  at  last — she,  the  indomitable,  the  succourer  of 
others — succumbed,  herself  ruined  with  the  rest  of 
them ! 


CHAPTER    XX 

DEATH     THE     RELEASER 

"As  a  mother  Mrs.  Jordan  will  behold  her  children  anxiously  and 
attentively  watching  over  her  declining  powers,  blessing  herself  as  she 
surveys  their  fondness  and  affection,  that  fortune  and  her  prudence 
have  rendered  them  thus  cheerful,  happy  and  independent.  The  noble 
sentiments  flowing  from  a  liberal  education  will  teach  them  to  reverence 
the  mother,  without  sprinkling  the  tender  nomination  with  any  unworthy 
reflections  on  the  father" —  Written  in  1798.  ANON. 

"  We  have  never  seen  anything  more  interesting  than  the  gentlemanly 
propriety  of  his  regret." 

IT  is  impossible  to  convey  the  tragic  effect  of  this 
calamity  upon  Dorothy.  March  had  failed  her;  the 
one  man  upon  whom  she  thought  she  could  rest  her 
trust,  and  to  whom  she  had  given  an  affection  springing 
from  esteem.  From  her  girlhood  she  had  been  sur- 
rounded by  people  who  asked  support  from  her;  she 
had  had  to  keep  mother,  brothers,  sisters,  children, 
and  the  man — usually  called  her  protector — who 
begged  the  most  gracious  and  public  protection  from 
the  effects  of  his  sins.  In  March  she  thought  she  had 
found  a  comprehending,  sympathizing  comrade;  she 
now  proved  him  as  weak  as  the  others  and  as  dis- 
honest; she  had  given  him  all  she  could,  and  now  he 
stood  confessed  another  parasite.  His  creditors  were 
around  him,  demanding  satisfaction  and  payment  of 
the  bills  that  Dorothy  had  given  him. 

Who  would  help  her?  to  whom  could  she  turn ?  Not 
General  Hawker;  he  stood  aloof  in  the  Court  circle, 
though  his  wife  lived  in  Dorothy's  house.  There  was 
but  one  person,  and  that  was  the  Duke;  yet  she  could 
not  approach  him  directly,  it  must  be  through  his  agent 

376 


Death  the  Releaser  377 

—the  man  whose  interest  lay  in  keeping  his  master 
free  from  all  care  on  her  account.  So  she  wrote  to 
him  and  he  went  to  see  her,  finding  her — I  quote  his 
words — "  in  tears  and  under  much  embarrassment, 
from  a  circumstance  that  had  burst  upon  her,  as  she 
said,  '  like  a  thunderstorm.'  She  found  herself  in- 
volved to  a  considerable  amount  by  securities,  which 
all  at  once  appeared  against  her,  in  the  form  of  bonds 
and  promissory  notes,  given  incautiously  by  herself  to 
relieve,  as  she  thought,  from  trifling  difficulties,  a  near 
relation,  in  whom  she  had  placed  the  greatest  con- 
fidence. Acceptances  had  been  given  by  her  in  blank, 
upon  stamped  paper,  which  she  supposed  were  for 
small  amounts,  but  which  afterwards  appear  to  have 
been  laid  before  her  capable  of  carrying  larger  sums." 

Dorothy  put  herself  into  Barton's  hands,  perhaps 
hoping  that  the  "  forbearance  "  which  she  had  shown 
to  the  Duke  four  years  earlier  would  now  be  extended 
to  her.  This,  however,  was  not  Barton's  plan  for  his 
master;  he  was  a  man  of  business,  and  he  regarded 
this  simply  as  a  matter  of  business.  So  he  went 
through  the  statement  of  debts,  finding  them  paltry 
enough,  the  total  amount  being  under  ^2000.  Yet  for 
so  long  had  Dorothy  staggered  under  the  accumula- 
tions pinned  upon  her  by  her  "  friend  "  and  relatives, 
so  horribly  had  she  suffered  recently,  and  so  certain  was 
she  that  she  could  no  longer  act,  that  this  unexpected 
calamity  was  the  last  crushing  defeat.  Being  told  that 
the  holders  of  the  bonds  were  demanding  satisfaction, 
she  saw  before  her  nothing  but  that  terror  from  which 
she  had  rescued  Coffin,  a  sponging-house. 

Barton  uttered  no  word  to  reassure  her.  She  had 
accepted  the  princely  Duke's  method  of  repaying 
what  he  owed  her,  and  the  Duke  demanded  the  full 


378     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

pound  of  flesh  from  her.  When  Dorothy  showed  her 
terror  of  immediate  arrest  to  this  man,  declaring  that 
she  wished  to  act  honourably  to  all,  and  even  to  save 
March's  wife  and  children  from  utter  ruin,  Barton 
listened  and  explained  that  she  could  not  possibly 
treat  with  the  creditors  unless  she  kept  her  liberty. 
He  deliberately  turned  her  mind  to  France,  and  when 
she  betrayed  that  she  had  thought  of  going  there  he 
caught  at  and  fostered  the  idea.  At  once  he  set  to 
work  to  make  it  easy  for  her ;  drew  up  a  list  of  creditors 
and  promised  to  settle  with  them  all  on  her  behalf,  but 
on  what  conditions  that  glibly  explanatory  gentleman 
does  not  reveal.  In  any  case  he  assured  her  that  ten 
days  would  see  things  put  right,  and  that  after  a  little 
stay  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel  she  could  return 
in  comfort.  Whether  March  was  to  join  with  him  in 
putting  matters  straight  he  does  not  say ;  March's  own 
explanation  seems  to  throw  the  blame  on  Barton, 
whom,  however,  he  does  not  mention  by  name.  Each 
of  these  two  conspirators,  in  fact  if  not  in  intention, 
blames  the  other  for  Dorothy's  enforced  and  tragic 
banishment.  Barton  says  that  March — but  he,  too, 
avoids  mention  by  name — refused  to  give  her  an 
assurance  that  she  knew  the  worst  and  that  no  further 
debts  were  hidden  from  her;  and  March  asserts  that 
Barton  never  made  the  slightest  attempt  to  pay  off  any 
fraction  of  those  debts  for  £2000.  Thus,  these  two 
people  and  Clarence,  who  knew  all  that  was  done — 
and  let  it  be  done — played  into  each  other's  hands, 
sent  Dorothy  abroad  under  false  pretences,  and  kept 
her  exiled  there. 

In  his  explanation,  given  in  1824,  March  says  :  "  I 
can  positively  assert  that  never  during  her  lifetime  was 
one  shilling  paid  towards  liquidating  the  securities  in 


Death  the  Releaser  379 

question;  nor  was  it  urgent  that  it  should  be  done, 
because  the  creditors — for  the  most  part  personal 
friends — well  knew  the  upright  principles  they  had  to 
depend  upon."  This  was  a  very  different  story  from 
that  which  he  had  told  her  in  1815,  when  he  was 
thoroughly  frightened  and  knew  that  there  was  danger. 
It  was  not  true  either,  for  Dorothy  herself  said  that 
the  greater  number  of  these  creditors  were  "utter 
strangers  "  to  her. 

But  Barton  coldly  and  cruelly  thought  it  as  well  to 
clear  Dorothy  out  of  his  master's  path ;  for  there  is  no 
doubt  that  her  continued  public  presence  kept  memory 
alive  concerning  Clarence's  past,  and  not  only  did 
much  to  prevent  his  matrimonial  schemes  from  coming 
to  realization  but  kept  him  continually  unpopular.  In 
addition  to  this,  Dorothy  was  during  these  years  endur- 
ing much  sorrow,  which  disturbed  the  Duke's  kind 
heart  and  made  ineffectual  tugs  at  his  purse-strings,  so 
it  was  best  to  get  rid  of  her.  Thus  Barton  made  it 
easy  for  her  to  go  to  France,  and  made  it  impossible 
for  her  to  return.  He  asserted  years  afterwards  that 
to  the  day  of  her  death  Dorothy  received  £2000  a  year 
from  the  Duke,  leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that  she  had 
that  amount  to  spend.  He  knew,  however,  that  the 
daughters'  allowances  were  deducted  from  that  sum, 
being  paid  directly  through  the  bank,  and  he  knew  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  residue  was  mortgaged.  In 
addition,  he  was  not  the  man  to  arrange  any  payment 
without  first  handling  the  money,  but  he  is  careful  not 
to  say  what  arrangements  about  that  he  made  with 
Dorothy.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  this  would  mean 
a  further  reduction  from  her  income.  When  we  con- 
sider these  things,  how  much  can  have  been  left? 
Probably  not  even  the  £200  a  year  mentioned  by 


380     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Townsend.  At  the  interview  at  Cadogan  Place  it  is 
probable  that  Dorothy  insisted  that  the  sums  promised 
her  daughters — or  some  sum,  at  all  events — should  be 
for  the  future  regularly  remitted,  for  in  1816  we  find 
Frances,  for  whom  Dorothy  had  intended  with  great 
difficulty  to  spend  £90  a  year,  again  drawing  an  income 
from  Coutts's  Bank. 

There  was  the  house  to  consider,  the  lease  of  which 
had  not  run  out,  while  the  furniture  was  hers.  Both 
sons-in-law  had  refused  to  buy  it,  and  March  could 
not  afford  to  live  in  it.  So  she  sent  to  a  man  named 
Charles  Wigley,  who  kept  some  exhibition  rooms  in 
Spring  Gatdens,  to  ask  if  he  would  purchase  the 
furniture.  He,  needing  the  advice  of  an  expert,  took 
with  him  a  Mr.  Fisher,  auctioneer  and  father  of  the 
actress  Clara  Fisher,  to  see  what  was  in  the  house. 
Fisher  said  that  if  a  purchaser  wanted  the  things  with 
the  house,  carpets  fitted,  etc.,  they  were  worth  .£300; 
but  if  they  were  to  be  removed  he  would  say  a  hundred 
less,  though  he  might  go  as  far  as  £220.  The  friendly 
Wigley  here  saw  the  chance  of  a  bargain ;  he  discussed 
the  matter  privately  with  Dorothy,  assuring  her  that 
she  could  not  get  more  than  a  hundred  guineas  for  her 
things,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  give  that  amount.  In 
her  worry  and  ignorance  of  business  she  agreed,  and 
he  got  the  remainder  of  the  lease  of  the  -premises 
thrown  in!  Fisher,  on  hearing  of  the  matter  later, 
assured  the  writer  of  The  Great  Illegitimates  that  the 
whole  was  well  worth  five  hundred  pounds. 

This  was  Dorothy's  last  act  before  hastily  leaving 
the  country.  Her  terror  of  prison  had  been  shown 
thirty-three  years  earlier  when  the  villain  Daly  had 
threatened  her  with  it  and  caused  her  to  fly  in  poverty 
from  Dublin,  and  now  her  mind  was  so  racked  with 


Death  the  Releaser          381 

anxiety  and  sorrow  that  when  a  man  of  Barton's  know- 
ledge and  position  urged  her  to  save  herself  from  that 
dreaded  penalty,  how  could  she  do  aught  but  take  his 
advice,  believing  it  to  be  most  honourably  well  meant  ? 

Harrington,  writing  a  dozen  years  later,  and  repeat- 
ing the  lesson  he  had  been  taught,  would  have  us 
believe  that  the  Duke  was  solicitous  for  Dorothy's 
comfort,  and  insisted  upon  her  taking  Miss  Sketchley 
with  her,  and  being  escorted  by  Colonel  Hawker,  a 
brother  of  the  general.  This  may  have  been  true,  but 
Miss  Sketchley  had  been  Dorothy's  companion  for 
years,  and  was  in  no  way  responsible  to  the  Duke,  who, 
if  he  did  thus  far  interest  himself,  shows  that  he  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  affair,  and  let  her  go 
unnecessarily,  rather  than  relieve  her  trouble. 

Dorothy  went  to  Boulogne,  and  took  a  small  cottage 
at  Marquetra,  in  a  quiet  lane  opening  to  the  sweet 
Vallee  du  Denacre,  where  the  trees  were  green  and 
shady,  and  whence,  after  three  minutes'  walk  through 
the  cornfields,  she  might  look  over  the  tumbling  waves 
of  the  Channel.  About  twenty-five  years  later  Douglas 
Jerrold  lived  for  a  time  in  "  Mrs.  Jordan's  old  house," 
and  in  the  little  room  where  her  listless  fingers  had  so 
sadly  pulled  the  strings  of  her  guitar,  and  where  she 
waited  with  slowly  dying  hope  for  Barton's  letter  which 
never  came,  the  dramatist  wrote  his  play,  The  Prisoner 
of  War.  By  that  time  the  two  little  cottages  had  per- 
haps been  converted  into  one  and  the  garden  terraced, 
for  when  Barrington  saw  it  shortly  after  Dorothy's 
death  he  pronounced  it  very  small  and  semi-detached. 
Madame  Ducamp,  her  landlady,  a  gardener's  widow, 
dwelt  in  the  adjoining  cottage.  She,  being  old,  had  a 
girl  who  worked  for  her.  This  girl,  named  Agnes,  fell 
in  love  with  Dorothy  and  was  ready  to  do  anything  for 


her,  telling  Barrington  that  she  waited  upon  that 
charming  lady  as  if  she  had  been  a  princess ;  also  how 
"  that  dear  unfortunate  English  lady  "  passed  her  time 
in  nervous  expectation  of  letters  from  England,  and 
that  on  the  days  when  the  post  came  in  she  was  utterly 
miserable;  that  her  one  consolation  was  music,  and 
Agnes  added  that  sometimes  she  sang  Madame  to 
sleep.  Dorothy's  poverty  made  a  great  impression 
upon  the  young  cottage  girl,  "  the  economy  of  that 
charming  lady  was  very  strict " ;  once  she  had  been  rich 
and  magnificent,  but  then  she  was  very  poor  indeed, 
and,  though  so  very  poor,  she  "paid  her  rent  like  a 
goddess." 

The  futile  Barrington,  hearing  all  this,  glibly  asserts 
that  this  only  meant  that  she  had  become  careless  of 
money  and  affected  poverty  for  a  whim.  He  pub- 
lished his  memories  of  Dorothy  between  1826  and 
1830,  after  a  public  furore  had  been  created  concerning 
Dorothy's  last  days,  and  his  aim  was  to  clear  the  Duke 
of  the  well-deserved  stigma  which  his  unimaginative 
and  stupid  business  man,  Barton,  had  caused  publicly 
to  be  fixed  upon  his  character.  Barrington  would  have 
believed  all  he  was  told  by  the  Prince's  man,  but  if  the 
Prince  was  his  informant  he  believed  on  his  knees, 
devoutly  and  abjectly. 

Poor  Dorothy,  waiting,  waiting  in  that  little  cottage 
for  the  letter  from  Barton  telling  her  that  it  was  safe 
for  her  to  return,  while  he  was  happily  conscious  that 
she  was  safely  away  !  The  days  passed  :  ten,  twenty, 
thirty  days,  ten  weeks,  nearly  ten  months — and  Barton 
made  no  stroke  of  the  pen  to  release  her.  And  the 
Duke  permitted  this  refinement  of  cruelty,  yet  he  was 
solicitous  for  her  comfort !  He  knew  that  her  life  was 
bound  up  in  her  children ;  that  never  to  see  them  would 


Death  the  Releaser  383 

be  a  prolonged  anguish;  he  knew  all  her  circum- 
stances, but  he  raised  no  finger  to  bring  her  back  into 
the  warmth  of  love  and  friendship.  For  £2000  he 
sold  her  to  sorrow — nay,  for  less;  had  he  but  caused 
Barton  to  write  and  reassure  her  she  would  have  come 
back.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  when  things  were 
known  people  who  had  admired  the  great  actress  were 
hot  with  indignation  against  him;  that  even  men  like 
Creevey  could  speak  of  him  in  1820  as  "  that  Prince  of 
Blackguards,  brother  William ;  "  that  her  very  creditors 
cried  shame  upon  him?  That  nothing  that  Barton 
could  write  or  say  afterwards  could  wipe  the  Duke 
clean  of  this  stain. 

From  Marquetra  Dorothy  wrote  a  tender  letter  of 
forgiveness  to  March,  promising  that  when  she 
returned  to  England  Dora  and  her  children  might 
always  rely  upon  her  to  find  a  home.  But  March, 
without  being  a  bad  man,  was  cursed  with  littleness  of 
mind,  and,  from  sheer  petty  annoyance,  helped  to  grind 
her  into  the  dust. 

While  Dorothy  was  at  Marquetra,  her  boy  Frederick 
and  her  girl  Sophia  were  in  Paris,  and  she  received 
the  following  boyish,  generous  letter  from  Frederick, 
who  had  just  learned  of  the  Marchs'  calamity.  It  was 
probably  their  presence  in  the  French  capital  which 
caused  her  to  leave  Marquetra  for  Versailles.  From 
the  time  of  going  abroad  Dorothy  borrowed  her  Welsh 
sister-in-law's  name  and  called  herself  James,  and  her 
son's  letter  is  directed  "  To  Mrs.  James,  Post  Office, 
Boulogne,  France." 

"  MY  DEAR  MOTHER, 

"  My  dear  Sophia  has  been  very  low-spirited 
since  she  received  my  ever-dear  Dora's  letter,  and  she 


384     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

took  the  earliest  opportunity  to  speak  to  Mrs.  Arbuth- 
not,  who  would  speak  to  her  husband  about  it.  I  am 
afraid  we  shall  not  come  home  for  this  long  time.  I 
long  to  see  dear  Lucy.  The  Arbuthnots  are  very  kind 
to  me.  I  have  got  a  room  in  Paris.  Hale  is  better 
behaved.  I  have  had  a  horse  shot.  Tell  all  about  the 
[Marchjs.  If  you  want  money  for  them,  don't  ask  me 
for  it,  but  take  my  allowance  for  them;  because,  with 
a  little  care,  I  could  live  on  my  father's  till  their 
business  is  a  little  settled.  Now  do  as  I  ask  you — 
mind  you  do,  for  they  have  always  been  so  kind  to  us 
ALL,  and  if  I  can  make  any  return  I  should  be  a  devil 
if  I  did  not ;  so  take  my  next  quarter,  and,  as  you  may 
want  to  give  them  some,  do  that  for  my  sake.  I  am 
very  well.  God  bless  you. 

"  FRED.  FITZCLARENCE. 

"  P.S. — Sophia  will  write  to  you  on  Thursday. 

"Paris." 

How  long  she  stayed  at  Versailles  is  not  known, 
perhaps  until  the  end  of  the  year ;  then  she  went  on  to 
St.  Cloud,  where  she  certainly  had  the  companionship 
of  Miss  Sketchley.  At  St.  Cloud  she  engaged  rooms 
in  the  Maison  du  Sieur  Mongis,  a  house  in  the  square 
which  was  "  large,  gloomy,  cold  and  inconvenient " ; 
probably  a  typical  French  place,  which  even  to-day 
seems  bare  and  chill  to  the  English  visitor.  The 
garden  was  overgrown  with  weeds  and  shadowed  by 
two  mournful  cypresses.  As  for  her  rooms,  they  were 
shabby  and  comfortless — "  a  small  old  sofa  being  the 
best-looking  piece  of  furniture."  Here  again  she 
waited,  and  waited  vainly,  for  that  letter  which  was  to 
call  her  home. 


Death  the  Releaser  385 

That  she  did  receive  letters  is  undoubted,  but  the  one 
upon  which  her  life  was  staked  never  came — that  one 
which  would  tell  her  that  it  was  safe  to  return  and  to 
see  again  the  children,  the  loss  of  whom  was  break- 
ing her  heart.  One  dunning  letter  she  answered  on 
February  22,  1816,  being  careful,  it  may  be  noted,  to 
put  no  address  but  Paris  on  it.1  It  is  addressed  to 
W.  Vickery,  a  hairdresser  of  Tavistock  Street,  Covent 
Garden. 

"  SIR, 

'  The  date  of  this  will,  I  hope,  explain  what 
might  appear  neglect.  I  am  very  sorry  that  my  bill 
should  have  so  long  remained  unpaid;  it  was  not  my 
intention  to  have  remained  here  so  long,  but  a  most 
painful  and  distressing  illness  for  these  three  months 
past  has  left  me  in  a  very  weak  state,  and  I  fear  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  undertake  so  long  a  journey  till  the 
spring,  at  which  time  you  may  rest  assured  of  receiving 
the  amount.  I  am  very  grateful  for  your  friendly 
forbearance,  and  indeed  will  always  consider  myself 
obliged  to  you  for  your  gentlemanly  conduct  towards 
me  on  every  occasion. 

"  I  remain,  sir,  your  obliged  frd., 

"  DORA  JORDAN." 

At  St.  Cloud,  as  at  Marquetra,  Dorothy  again  lived 
for  the  post,  and  also  lived  with  extreme  economy; 
indeed,  the  proprietor  of  the  house  thought  her  so 
badly  off  that  on  one  occasion  he  offered  her  a  loan, 
while  wondering  at  the  beautiful  diamond  ring  she 
wore.  Waiting  hopelessly  for  that  which  never  came, 

1  The  original  of  this  is  one  of  the  many  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  A.  M. 
Broadley. 
BB 


386     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

her  brooding  mind  started  a  new  alarm.  Perhaps 
March  had  not  disclosed  all  her  liabilities,  and  the 
reason  she  was  kept  so  long  abroad  was  that  there  were 
other  large  sums  which  had  been  hidden  from  her  and 
which  could  not  Be  met.  So  she  wrote  to  March, 
imploring  him  to  set  her  mind  at  rest  on  this  point. 
His  only  answer  seems  to  have  been  in  the  nature  of, 
11 1  have  told  you  once ;  there  is  nothing  more  to  say." 
She  could  not  be  sure  he  spoke  the  truth,  and  she 
asked  him  to  assure  her  on  oath  that  there  were  no 
more.  This  he  refused,  and  his  refusal  made  her  think 
that  all  she  feared  was  true. 

Years  later,  when,  as  has  been  said,  Barton  had  to 
make  his  public  defence  of  his  master,  he  threw  the 
whole  blame  of  her  continuance  abroad  upon  March, 
saying  that  all  she  "  required  in  order  to  set  her  mind 
at  ease  on  the  extent  of  the  demands  that  might  be  out 
against  her  was  that  the  person  who  had  plunged  her 
into  all  these  difficulties  should  declare  on  oath  that 
the  list  he  had  given  to  her  included  the  whole.  This 
the  party  from  time  to  time  refused  to  do." 

In  January  1816  Dorothy  sent  Miss  Sketchley  to 
England  to  receive  her  quarterly  income — or  the 
remnant  of  it — and  to  get  from  Edward  March  the 
required  assurance.  Miss  Sketchley  had  seen  her 
employer's  sufferings,  either  all  or  part  of  the  time  she 
was  in  France,  and  was  naturally  indignant  that  such 
anguish  should  be  allowed  to  continue,  and  perhaps 
she  showed  her  indignation  too  keenly,  for  March  and 
his  wife — self-absorbed — resented  it.  They  allowed 
their  jealousy  of  her  to  weigh  against  the  happiness  of 
their  mother,  and  March  absolutely  refused  to  comply. 
Certain,  then,  that  Dorothy's  suspicions  were  true, 
Miss  Sketchley  told  them  that  Mrs.  Jordan  intended 


Death  the  Releaser  387 

to  keep  her  address  secret,  and  that  their  letters  must 
be  sent  through  the  post  office  at  Paris.  March  pre- 
tended in  his  explanations  that  he  then  heard  for  the 
first  time  that  she  was  going  to  call  herself  Mrs.  James, 
yet  he  must  have  known  that  she  had  done  so  from 
the  time  she  went  to  Marquetra,  as  Frederick's  letter 
proves.  He  also  pretended  that  this  was  the  first  he 
had  heard  of  any  idea  that  Dorothy  doubted  his  state- 
ment, but  Barton's  words  quoted  above,  and  this  letter, 
written  by  Dorothy  on  the  return  of  Miss  Sketchley  to 
St.  Cloud,  to  Barton,  do  not  confirm  this.  The  date 
is  January  16,  1816. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  forborne  writing  to  you  that  I  might  occupy 
as  little  of  your  time  as  possible.  My  spirits  are  in 
so  disturbed  a  state  that  my  weak  hand  is  scarcely  able 
to  trace  the  still  more  feeble  effort  of  my  mind.  .  .  . 
He  [March]  assures  you  that  I  am  in  possession  of  the 
names  of  my  creditors,  to  whom  he  has  made  me 
answerable  by  filling  up  those  blank  acceptances  that 
I  so  unguardedly  gave  him,  and  yet  declines  making 
an  oath  to  that  -purpose;  this  has  caused  me  much 
uneasiness,  for  it  appears  to  me  vague,  if  not  equivocal. 

"  I  can  solemnly  declare  that  the  names  I  sent  to  you 
are  the  only  ones  I  know  of,  and  the  greater  part  utter 
strangers  to  me. 

"  I  was  in  hopes  that,  not  only  out  of  humanity  and 
justice  to  me  but  for  his  own  sake,  he  would  have  done 
it  voluntarily,  as  it  would  have  been  the  means  of 
removing  in  a  great  degree  the  unpleasant  impressions 
such  a  determination  might  cause  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  still  remain  anxious  for  his  future  well  doing.  I 
do  not  command  or  enforce  it,  but  entreat  it  as  the  only 


388     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

relief  he  can  give  to  a  being  he  has  almost  destroyed. 
.  .  .  What  interpretation  can  be  put  on  his  refusal? 
If  he  says  he  will  not  take  the  oath  it  is  cruel;  and  if 
he  adds  that  he  cannot,  what  is  to  become  of  me  ?  Is 
it  in  nature  possible  for  me  to  return  to  an  uncertain 
home,  with  all  the  horrors  I  have  suffered  there  fresh 
in  my  mind,  with  the  constant  dread  of  what  may  be 
hanging  over  me  ?  I  really  think,  under  those  circum- 
stances, that  when  my  presence  would  be  absolutely 
necessary,  that  it  would  not  remain  in  my  own  power 
to  be  able  to  encounter  such  misery.  It  is  not,  believe 
me,  the  feelings  of  pride,  avarice,  or  the  absence  of 
those  comforts  I  have  all  my  life  been  accustomed  to, 
that  is  killing  me  by  inches;  it  is  the  loss  of  my  only 
remaining  comfort — the  hope  I  used  to  live  on  of  from 
time  to  time  seeing  my  children.  The  above  asser- 
tion I  can  convince  the  world  of,  if  driven  to  it,  by 
leaving  the  bond  (all  I  have)  to  the  creditors,  and  the 
Duke's  generous  allowance  to  the  decision  of  the  law. 

"  It  is  now,  and  ever  has  been,  my  wish  to  save 
Edward  March,  for  even  now  I  feel  a  regard  for  him 
I  cannot  conquer ;  but  surely  I  may  expect  some  return 
of  gratitude  from  a  man  who,  by  a  single  act,  could 
relieve  those  fears  that  are  nearly  insupportable.  The 
idea  is  shocking. 

"  Excuse  this  long  letter ;  but  I  am  sure  you  will  see 
and  feel  the  motives  of  the  urgency.  Once  more,  dear 
sir,  forgive  and  excuse, 

"Yours, 

"DORA  JORDAN." 

Barton  uses  this  letter  as  a  means  to  fasten  the  cause 
of  her  lingering  agony  for  another  six  months  upon 
March.  But  what  did  Barton  do  to  help  her?  He  did 


Death  the  Releaser  389 

absolutely  nothing !  He  seems  not  even  to  have 
written  to  March  on  this  painful  matter;  for  March 
declared  that  he  knew  nothing  of  this  letter  until  eight 
years  later  when  he  saw  its  accusing  words  in  the 
columns  of  the  daily  papers.  He  was  childishly, 
weakly  cruel  to  a  woman  to  whom  he  owed  much; 
Barton  was  intentionally  cruel  with  the  method  of  a 
man  who  regarded  the  woman  as  of  no  more  import- 
ance than  a  piece  of  broken  furniture,  a  thing  to  be 
thrown  away  and  forgotten. 

In  his  defence  March  states  that  he  did  repent  and 
wrote  to  Dorothy,  but  that  as  her  letters  were  directed 
to  Mrs.  James,  and  as  her  place  of  residence  was  kept 
a  secret,  she  never  received  the  letter.  It  seems  easier 
to  believe  that  that  letter  was  never  written,  as  March 
certainly  lied  concerning  his  knowledge  of  the  assumed 
name. 

So,  by  the  callousness  of  those  to  whom  she  had 
given  her  life,  Dorothy  was  left  alone  with  Miss 
Sketchley  until  she  died,  with  no  word  from  the  Duke 
to  cheer  her  solitude,  no  sight  of  her  younger  children 
to  warm  her  heart,  no  comforting  visit  from  those 
daughters  who  had  always  been  glad  partly  to  live 
upon  her  exertions. 

It  was  during  the  spring  days  of  1816  that  Helen 
Maria  Williams,  translator  of  HumboldCs  Travels  and 
writer  of  many  books,  learned  what  a  distinguished 
neighbour  she  had,  and  went  four  times  to  see  Dorothy 
in  her  rooms  at  St.  Cloud,  holding  a  long  conversation 
with  her  on  each  occasion.  So  impressed  was  she  with 
the  privilege  that  she  wrote  an  account  of  each  meeting 
immediately  after,  and  later,  upon  Miss  Williams' 
death,  these  accounts  were  lent  to  the  writer  of  The 
Great  Illegitimates  for  reproduction. 


390     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

In  these  conversations  we  find  anything  but  a 
diseased  or  even  a  relaxed  mind.  They  are  full  of 
memories  of  the  stage  and  of  people  tending  to  verify 
and  amplify  facts  mentioned  in  other  books ;  they  show 
clear  criticisms  upon  current  and  past  events,  and  a 
great  interest  in  French  theatricals  and  dramatists, 
and  sometimes  Dorothy  alluded  to  her  own  past,  and 
gave  much  information  about  her  brother  George's 
widow,  Maria  Bland.  She  also  presented  Miss 
Williams  with  a  copy  of  some  verses  which  she  had 
written,  under  the  name  of  Anthony  Acerbus,  upon 
All  the  Talents  Greedy  Rout.  At  the  fourth  meeting 
arrangements  were  made  for  another,  but  the  day 
before  it  should  have  taken  place  Miss  Williams 
received  the  following  letter — 

"  DEAR  MADAM, 

"  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  appointment  made 
for  to-morrow,  but  circumstances  have  intervened 
which  will  preclude  me  the  pleasure  of  a  meeting;  in 
addition  to  which,  my  spirits  are  so  depressed  that  I 
should  prove  but  a  melancholy  companion  for  one  so 
full  of  energy  as  yourself.  With  every  sentiment  that 
can  be  dictated  by  warmth  of  friendly  attachment, 
believe  me,  I  remain,  dear  madam, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  D.  J." 

A  fortnight  later  Miss  Williams  went  to  St.  Cloud, 
and  was  told  at  the  hotel  that  the  health  and  spirits  of 
Mrs.  Jordan  threatened  the  worst  results,  and  that 
orders  were  given  for  the  admission  of  only  two  people. 
So  she  returned  to  Paris,  feeling  that  she  would  never 
see  her  more.  A  little  later  she  heard  that  Mrs.  Jordan 
was  dead  and  buried. 


Death  the  Releaser  391 

Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  Dorothy's  death  was  not 
sudden,  that  those  around  her  knew  her  to  be  seriously 
ill,  and  yet  no  child,  Fitzclarence  or  other,  went  to 
see  her  or  soften  the  last  moments. 

About  the  circumstances  surrounding  her  death  there 
are  many  stories,  which  cannot  all  be  credited,  though 
which  are  true  and  which  false  it  is  hard  to  decide. 
Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  account  is  the  one  generally 
followed,  and  as  he  paid  a  special  visit  to  St.  Cloud 
to  gather  information  there  at  first  hand  it  must  be 
reliable.  The  irritating  thing  is  that  he  names  the 
master  of  the  house  where  Dorothy  lodged  simply 

"  Mr.  C ."  But  as  the  master  of  the  house  was 

Jean  Jacques  Mongis  there  is  at  once  some  doubt 
thrown  upon  the  agreement  between  the  tragedy  as  he 
heard  of  it  and  as  it  really  happened. 

An  unknown  gentleman  who  was  in  Paris  at  the  time 
gave  another  account,  and  a  London  confectioner,  who 
had  removed  to  Paris  and  by  chance  found  that  she 
was  at  St.  Cloud,  adds  another  and  sensational  story 
to  that  of  the  last  few  weeks  of  her  life.  This  person's 
narrative  is  discounted,  however,  by  the  fact  that,  being 
in  difficulties  some  years  later,  he,  returning  to  Eng- 
land, demanded  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  the  repay- 
ment of  twenty  pounds  which  he  said  he  had  advanced 
to  Mrs.  Jordan  at  St.  Cloud,  which  payment — though 
he  produced  letters  supplicating  the  loan  in  question 
— was  refused,  as  he  could  not  produce  a  receipt. 

This  man's  story  of  the  end  was  that  on  going  to  see 
her  he  was  put  off  with  evasive  answers,  and  retired; 
that  shortly  after  he  received  a  letter  from  Dorothy, 
begging  him  to  come  at  night  and  stand  beneath  a 
certain  window  of  her  rooms;  that  from  this  window 
she  talked  with  him  for  two  hours,  telling  him  that  she 


392     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

stood  in  want  of  the  necessities  of  life,  that  she  was  in 
a  state  of  complete  captivity  and  surrounded  by  spies. 
She  took  the  loan  of  eighteen  or  twenty  francs  which 
he  offered  her,  making  him  promise  to  return  the  fol- 
lowing day,  and  naming  a  place  where  they  might  meet 
without  interruption.  The  second  night  he  went  he 
gave  her  twenty  pounds,  promising  to  help  her  to 
escape  to  England  in  ten  days'  time.  Keeping  the 
appointment,  he  learned  that  she  had  died  the  pre- 
ceding day.  To  this  story  he  added  that  when  he 
applied  for  the  repayment  of  the  loan  he  saw  two  or 
three  individuals  enjoying  posts  in  a  great  establish- 
ment, whom  he  recognized  as  having  held  the  situation 
of  spies  or  keepers  over  Mrs.  Jordan. 

I  am  inclined  to  regard  the  whole  of  this  story  as  a 
blackmailing  fiction,  though  it  is  true  that  Miss 
Williams  was  put  off  by  Dorothy  "owing  to  circum- 
stances which  had  intervened,"  and  was  refused  admis- 
sion a  fortnight  later.  However,  no  suspicion  was 
raised  in  her  mind,  and  Harrington  heard  nothing  of 
the  sort. 

The  story  of  her  death,  as  told  by  him,  and  of  her 
burial,  related  by  an  English  resident  in  Paris,  are  in 
substance  as  follows — 

While  in  the  Hotel  Mongis  Dorothy  showed  the 
most  restless  anxiety  for  intelligence  from  England; 
her  hopes  rose  as  every  post  was  due,  and  when  she  did 
receive  letters  they  raised  many  emotions  in  her  mind. 
At  last  she  became  more  anxious  and  miserable  than 
usual,  being  physically  ill,  so  that  her  skin  was  dis- 
coloured, and  from  morning  to  night  she  lay  sighing 
upon  the  sofa.  Then  came  an  interval  during  which 
she  received  no  letters,  and  her  trouble  seemed  too 
great  for  mortal  strength  to  bear. 


Death  the  Releaser  393 

One  morning  she  looked  very  ill,  and  eagerly  asked 

Mr.  C before  the  hour  of  delivery  to  go  to  the 

post  office.  On  his  return  she  started  up  and  held  out 
her  hand  to  receive  the  missives.  He  told  her  there 
was  none.  She  remained  a  moment  motionless, 
looked  towards  him  with  a  vacant  stare,  held  out  her 
hand  again  as  by  an  involuntary  movement,  instantly 
withdrew  it  and  sank  back  upon  the  sofa  from  which 

she  had  risen.  Mr.  C ran  downstairs  to  find  Miss 

Sketchley,  but  she  had  gone  out,  so  he  returned  to 
Dorothy's  apartment.  He  then  saw  a  change  that 
alarmed  him,  for  she  gazed  at  him  steadfastly,  but 
neither  spoke  nor  wept ;  her  face  flushed  darkly,  then 
grew  livid,  and  she  sighed  as  though  her  heart  were 
breaking.  The  frightened  man  knew  not  what  to  do, 
but  in  a  minute  he  heard  her  breath  drawn  hardly,  even 
sobbingly.  Thoroughly  terrified,  he  leaned  over  her 
and  discovered  that  she  was  dead. 

This  man  was  perhaps  a  subordinate  in  the  house, 
who  told  Barrington  what  he  saw — but  not  what  trans- 
pired after.  Miss  Sketchley  returned  to  find  Mrs. 
Jordan  dead — as  she  believed,  and  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Hawker — who  was  just  recovering  from  a  confinement 
at  her  daughter-in-law's  house  at  Woodchester — that 
her  mother  had  died  after  a  few  days'  illness.  Mrs. 
Hawker  was  very  shocked,  but  felt  unable  to  go  on 
a  long  journey.  However,  Miss  Sketchley  found  that 
her  friend  was  not  dead  but  in  a  prolonged  faint,  and 
three  days  later  she  wrote  again  to  the  effect  that  Mrs. 
Jordan  was  still  alive  but  very  very  ill.  Now  Mrs. 
Hawker  prepared  to  go  to  St.  Cloud,  but  before  her 
preparations  were  complete — dear,  deliberate  daugh- 
ter ! — a  third  letter  arrived  announcing  that  Mrs. 
Jordan  was  really  dead. 


394     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

A  Sunday  paper  made  an  announcement,  which  was 
copied  by  The  Times  on  M  onday,  J  uly  i ,  1 8 1 6,  regretting 
to  state  that  the  favourite  representative  of  the  Comic 
Muse  died  at  St.  Cloud ;  that  she  had  been  seized  with 
an  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  which  in  all  probability 
would  have  proved  fatal,  but  that  the  immediate  cause 
of  death  was  a  ruptured  blood  vessel,  caused  by  a 
violent  fit  of  coughing.  The  next  day  The  Times 
contradicted  this,  saying  that  the  lady  who  was  with 
Mrs.  Jordan  had  despaired  of  her  life,  but  that  severe 
blisters  had  been  applied,  and  hopes  were  entertained 
of  her  recovery. 

The  next  absolute  fact,  and  one  which  effectually 
"disposes  of  Boaden's  suggestion  that  Dorothy  did  not 
die  at  this  time  at  all,  is  that  her  death  was  registered 
at  the  Mairie  at  St.  Cloud.  As  early  as  nine  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  July  5,  1816,  two  gentlemen  pre- 
sented themselves  before  the  Maire,  declaring  that 
Dorothee  Bland,  Veuve  Jordan,  had  died  at  the  Maison 
du  Sieur  Mongis  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  that 
day  :  these  were  Jean  Jacques  Mongis,  aged  fifty-three 
years,  proprietor  of  the  Maison  du  Sieur  Mongis,  and 
Louis  Amable  Sciard,  Capitaine  d'infanterie,  Chevalier 
de  1'Ordre  Royal  de  la  Legion  d'Honour,  aged  twenty- 
six,  both  living  in  St.  Cloud.  They  registered  her  as 
forty-eight  years  of  age. 

This  document  is  still  in  existence,  and  can  be  seen 
through  the  proper  authorities. 

The  accounts  of  her  burial  range  from  refusal  of 
Christian  ground  in  which  to  lay  the  body,  to  a  proces- 
sion of  two  hundred  of  the  most  respectable  parish- 
ioners of  St.  Cloud,  headed  by  the  Mayor  in  official 
robes,  and  a  French  minister  pronouncing  an  oration 
over  the  grave.  Between  these  comes  the  sensible  and 


Death  the  Releaser  395 

convincing  report  given  by  a  gentleman  who  was  still 
living  in  Paris  in  1830,  and  who  attended  the  funeral. 
He  declares  that  none  of  the  few  who  knew  her  while 
near  Paris  ever  heard  her  make  the  slightest  allusion 
to  the  cause  of  her  mental  anguish,  or  utter  one  syllable 
in  the  shape  of  a  complaint  or  reproach  that  would  in 
the  remotest  degree  assign  blame;  that  she  would 
rather  pine  in  silence  than  breathe  her  wrongs  and 
sufferings  to  the  world.  To  this  he  added  that  the 
acuteness  of  her  malady  was  considerably  alleviated 
by  the  unvarying  assiduity  and  watchful  care  of  Miss 
Sketchley,  who  had  been  her  companion  for  a  long 
series  of  years. 

With  this  preliminary,  he  tells  how  a  Mr.  Greatorex, 
the  owner  of  a  hotel  in  the  Rue  Pelletier,  Paris,  went 
often  to  St.  Cloud,  and  as  he  knew  that  the  supposed 
Mrs.  James  was  in  reality  the  renowned  Mrs.  Jordan, 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  upon  her,  being  received 
with  the  amiable  manner  and  "  unaffected  condescen- 
sion that  were  universally  allowed  to  be  peculiarly  her 
own." 

The  last  time  he  saw  her  he  noticed  that  she  seemed 
to  be  ill,  but  did  not  imagine  her  to  be  near  death. 
Two  days  later  he  went  again  to  inquire  after  her 
health,  and  was  told,  to  his  surprise,  that  she  was  dead, 
and  that  already  arrangements  were  being  made  for  her 
funeral. 

The  interval  of  two  days  only  seems  too  small,  for 
Dorothy  must  have  been  extremely  ill  for  some  days, 
if  the  newspapers  and  Harrington's  account  are  to  be 
believed.  However,  this  account  was  not  written  at 
the  time,  or  by  Greatorex  himself. 

Horrified,  and  finding  that,  in  addition  to  her  sorrow 
at  the  loss  of  Dorothy,  Miss  Sketchley,  "surrounded 


396     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

by  strangers  and  unassisted  by  any  compatriot,"  had 
to  carry  out  all  the  business  details  of  a  foreign  burial, 
Greatorex  hurried  back  to  Paris  to  find  a  Protestant 
clergyman.  The  haste  of  the  French  over  interment 
would  undoubtedly  have  led  to  the  commitment  of  the 
body  to  earth  without  the  rites  of  Christian  sepulture 
had  it  not  been  for  this  friend's  prompt  action ;  and  it 
was  probably  this  expressed  opinion  which,  later,  gave 
rise  to  the  popular  belief  that  Dorothy  had  been  buried 
with  as  little  ceremony  as  a  dog  in  the  corner  of  a 
garden. 

The  English  Chaplain  to  the  Embassy  was  unable 
to  attend,  so  Greatorex  found  a  Rev.  Mr.  Marron, 
officiating  pastor  at  the  French  Protestant  Church  of 
the  Oratoire,  and  also  collected  as  many  as  eight  other 
Englishmen  (including  a  William  Henshaw,  statuary, 
of  Mortimer  Street,  London,  and  some  one  named 
Keith),  with  all  of  whom  he  returned  to  St.  Cloud. 
Then  he  approached  the  Maire  and  impressed  upon 
him  the  fame  of  the  dead  woman,  upon  which  that 
gentleman  attended  "  in  his  official  costume."  Thus, 
"  the  ceremony  attending  Mrs.  Jordan's  interment, 
although  plain,  was  in  every  respect  decorous,  the 
coffin  being  covered  with  light  blue  cloth,  lined  and 
embellished  with  white  furniture.  After  the  office  had 
been  performed,  a  cold  collation,  consisting  of  fruits 
and  various  wines,  was  prepared  by  order  of  Miss 
Sketchley  for  the  pastor  and  gentlemen  who  had 
officiated," 

So  says  one  who  was  present,  and  who  had  no  reason 
to  praise  or  blame  any  one  concerned,  and  this  seems 
the  most  trustworthy  account  of  the  end  of  a  woman 
who,  in  her  life,  spent  herself  upon  those  she  loved,  and 
in  her  death  was  left  by  those  loved  ones  entirely  alone. 


Death  the  Releaser  397 

Upon  the  greater  number  of  her  children  no  blame 
could  fall.  Two  were  in  India,  five  were  under  fifteen, 
others  may  have  been  purposely  kept  in  ignorance  con- 
cerning the  anxiety  which  enwrapped  her  when  abroad. 
Yet  she  must  have  written  often  to  them.  But  no 
excuse  can  be  raised  for  the  inaction  of  the  Marchs, 
the  Hawkers,  the  flighty  Frances,  and  especially  the 
Duke  and  his  agent  Barton.  These  knew  everything 
— these  people  who,  by  their  joint  or  separate  actions, 
had  conspired  to  play  on  her  fears  of  arrest  and  to 
encourage  her  idea  of  going  abroad,  and  then  had  one 
and  all  refused  to  do  the  things  they  had  promised, 
which  would  have  enabled  her  to  return  with  happiness 
of  mind.  They  had  got  all  they  could  hope  for  from 
her,  and  when  they  had  carelessly  reduced  her  to  such 
a  position  of  debt  that  she  could  by  no  possibility  add 
further  to  their  incomes,  they  seemingly  washed  their 
hands  of  her. 

Sophia  Fitzclarence,  entirely  dominated  by  her 
father,  had  been  more  or  less  estranged  from  her 
mother,  and  cannot  be  absolved  from  blame ;  Mary,  the 
next  girl,  was  not  eighteen,  an  age  when  she  would 
not  have  been  allowed — indeed  would  not  have  had 
sufficient  knowledge  to  travel  alone  to  see  her  mother, 
and  would  certainly  not  have  been  given  any  help  in 
doing  so. 

General  Hawker  went  over  to  St.  Cloud,  says 
Boaden,  "  and  I  believe  arrived  there  about  three  days 
after  the  funeral."  If  he  really  went,  what  did  he  do? 
Did  he  make  himself  known  to  the  authorities?  make 
an  examination  of  the  events?  take  possession  of  the 
effects?  pay  up  all  outstanding  expenses?  settle  with 
Miss  Sketchley?  arrange  for  a  stone  to  be  put  over 
Dorothy's  grave  that  future  generations  might  know 


398     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

where  she  lay  and  show  the  world  that  her  family  at 
least  respected  her  memory  if  it  neglected  her  when 
alive  ? 

No ;  the  gentleman  of  "  punctilious  honour  and 
integrity,"  as  Harrington  describes  him,  did  none  of 
these  things.  If  he  went  it  must  have  been  secretly, 
simply  to  satisfy  himself  that  Dorothy  was  dead,  cer- 
tainly not  to  interfere  in  any  of  her  affairs  or  to  help 
Miss  Sketchley.  Would  he  have  done  differently  had 
he  known  that  all  the  story  of  bitter  neglect  would 
dribble  through  bit  by  bit  to  the  public  for  a  period  of 
ten  years,  and  again  and  again  raise  anger  against  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  and  lay  him  open,  when  he  became 
King,  to  intermittent  and  bitter  reproaches  as  to  the 
way  in  which  he  had  treated  "  the  hapless  Jordan  "  ? 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE   DEAD   AND   THE    LIVING 

"  Thalia,  them !  I  guess  thy  cause  of  woe, 

Thy  comic  mask  lies  there  thy  feet  beneath ; 
The  rivers  of  thine  eye  their  banks  o'erflow, 

The  favourite  child  of  smiles — thy  Dora,  lies  in  death. 

Her  smile  was  by  a  thousand  smiles  repaid ; 

Her  art  was  nature,  govern'd  by  thy  laws, 
To  acts  of  good,  full  oft  she  lent  her  aid  ; 

Her  talents  gained  her  thus,  with  hands,  the  heart's  applause. 

Such  virtues  not  in  vain  for  mercy  plead, 

Though  fate  the  roseate  crown  with  cypress  twine ; 

Yes,  gentle  shade !  thy  kind  benignant  deeds. 

Before  the  throne  of  grace,  in  golden  letters  shine." 

JOHN  O'KEEFE  on  Dorothy  Jordan. 

**  Nay,  then  I'll  be  gone,  for  fear  of  being  bail,  and  paying  her  debts, 
without  being  her  husband."— WYCHERLEY:  The  Plain  Dealer. 

IN  her  burial  as  in  her  death  Dorothy  Jordan  was 
dependent  upon  strangers.  The  ground  in  which  her 
body  lay  was  chosen  by  Greatorex,  and  strangers, 
more  important  for  kindliness  of  heart  than  for  rank, 
paid  for  the  stone  which  marks  the  spot.  A  gentle- 
man, named  Henry  Woodgate,  of  Dedham,  Essex, 
had  with  his  wife  seen  Dorothy  shortly  before  her 
death,  and  he  ordered  a  dark  granite  slab,  writing  to 
Genest,  the  great  theatrical  authority,  to  send  him  an 
inscription  for  it.  This  inscription,  both  in  Latin  and 
in  English,  is  as  follows — 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  DOROTHY  JORDAN,  who, 
for  a  series  of  years,  in  London  as  well  as  other  cities 
of  Britain  pre-eminently  adorned  the  Stage.  For 
Comic  Wit,  sweetness  of  voice,  and  imitating  the 

399 


400     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

manners  and  customs  of  laughing  maidens,  as  well  as 
the  opposite  sex,  she  ranked  second  to  none  in  the 
display  of  that  Art,  wherein  she  was  so  pre-eminently 
skilled.  Neither  was  any  one  more  prompt  in  relieving 
the  necessitous.  She  departed  this  life  the  5th  of  July, 
1816,  aged  fifty.  Remember  and  weep  for  her !  " 

The  prejudice  was  so  great  against  a  Protestant  and 
an  actress  that  .Greatorex  had  to  choose  a  corner  in  a 
low,  unused  part  of  the  cemetery,  so  low  and  damp 
that  the  authorities  intended  to  raise  that  portion  six 
feet.  Thus  a  mound  six  feet  high  was  heaped  over 
the  grave  and  the  stone  laid  upon  it  under  the  idea 
that  it  would  eventually  be  level  with  the  surrounding 
ground.  But  the  alteration  was  never  made,  and  the 
heavy  granite  sank,  until  its  head  remained  about  three 
feet  above  the  level  and  the  foot  one.  Iron  railings 
have  since  been  put  around  the  spot. 

Five  years  ago  this  part  of  the  cemetery  was 
reported  as  being  depressing  in  the  last  degree ;  damp, 
mouldy  and  neglected,  the  ground  grown  over  with 
brambles  and  bushes,  and  strewn  with  crosses,  cracked 
headstones  and  broken  railings.  In  1903  Aubrey, 
fourth  Earl  of  Munster,  visited  and  restored  the  grave, 
as  a  tablet  attached  to  the  railings  records;  yet  now 
dark  lichen  is  again  growing  over  the  stone  and  filling 
in  the  letter  spaces,  while  the  friendly  ivy  has  crept  up 
the  hard  railings,  twined  about  two  marble  tablets 
attached  to  them,  and  is  fast  throwing  thick  tendrils 
over  the  whole  grave.  The  tablets  announce  that  in 
1847  ner  affectionate  daughter  Lucy  Hawker  visited 
the  spot,  and  that  in  1842  her  daughter  Mary  Fox  was 
there.  It  took  the  daughters  long  to  remember  her; 
they  did  not  think  of  it  until  his  Most  Gracious 


The   Dead  and  the  Living     401 

Majesty  King  William  IV  had  been  dead  for  years, 
and  until,  age  creeping  upon  them,  they  better  realized 
a  mother's  sorrows. 

After  the  funeral  and  the  general  settling  up  of 
things  Miss  Sketchley  disappears  from  the  story;  she, 
like  a  loyal  friend,  had  hotly  resented  the  treatment 
given  to  Dorothy  by  her  children,  and  was  in  return 
distrusted  and  hated  by  them.  Lucy  Hawker  later 
became  much  disturbed  as  to  what  had  happened  to 
her  mother's  jewels,  which  had  naturally  been  taken 
abroad.  Had  General  Hawker  gone  in  a  dignified 
way  to  help  settle  Dorothy's  affairs,  this  he  would  have 
learned ;  but  when  the  question  arose  it  was  too  late. 
So  Mrs.  Hawker  wrote  to  her  aunt,  Hester  Bland, 
at  Trelethyn,  asking  if  she  could  throw  any  light  on 
the  matter,  and  as  Miss  Bland  knew  nothing  of  their 
whereabouts,  Lucy  concluded  that  Miss  Sketchley  had 
stolen  them.1 

Well,  Miss  Sketchley  may  have  been  unable  to 
resist  the  temptation,  seeing  how  little  was  owing  to 
Dorothy's  daughters;  Dorothy  may  have  given  them 
to  her  at  the  last,  or  the  police  may  have  sold  them 
with  the  other  things.  These  respectable  people  in 
England  could  not  put  themselves  to  trouble  until 
swayed  by  personal  loss. 

On  Mrs.  Jordan's  death  the  police  put  seals  upon 
all  her  personal  effects,  and  eventually  sold  them  at 
public  auction,  "  even  her  body  linen  was  sold  amid 
coarse  remarks  of  low  French  women,"  said  Mr. 
Woodgate,  who  was  present.  The  money  brought 
by  the  sale  was  probably  sent  over  to  England,  for 
the  King's  solicitor  collected  Dorothy's  effects,  she 
being  illegitimate  and  dying  intestate;  and  letters  of 

1  Information  from  private  letters. 
CC 


4O2     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

administration  were  taken  out  at  Doctors'  Commons, 
May  24,  1817,  the  total  amount  from  all  sources  being 
sworn  at  under  £300.  For  nearly  seven  years  after 
that  date  nothing  more  was  heard  of  this  little  sum, 
which  naturally  raised  some  heartburnings  among  her 
eldest  daughters,  who  seem  to  have  cherished  a  belief 
that  their  mother  had,  secretly,  money  in  the  funds. 
They  thought  that  the  Duke  had  taken  possession  of 
the  £3°°,  for  he  and  his  agent  had  been  guilty  of 
extreme  sharp  practice  with  them. 

Their  allowance  had  been  paid  regularly  through 
Coutts's  bank,  and  as  Dorothy  died  on  the  5th  of  July 
a  further  quarterly  portion  was  due  at  the  end  of  June. 
But  before  the  3Oth  of  June  Barton  had  heard  of  Mrs. 
Jordan's  supposed  death,  and  he  at  once  stopped  all 
payments.  Mrs.  Hawker  knew  what  had  happened  at 
St.  Cloud,  but  Frances  was  then  acting  at  Bath,  and 
she  and  Mrs.  March  remained  in  ignorance.  These 
daughters  were  in  Cadogan  Place  in  January  when 
Miss  Sketchley  so  much. .annoyed  them,  but  by  June 
the  house  had  probably  been  turned  over  to  the  dis- 
honest Wigley,  for  Mrs.  March,  whose  affairs  were 
still  in  a  painful  condition,  had,  with  her  children, 
migrated  to  the  rooms  rented  by  Frances.  The  latter 
then  owed  her  landlord,  Withers,  £170,  and  had  pro- 
mised him  something  at  the  receipt  of  her  allowance; 
so  at  the  beginning  of  July  Mrs.  March  went  to  the 
bank  to  draw  the  two  allowances,  and  was  informed 
that  her  mother  was  dead,  and  all  further  remittances 
were  stopped.  Which  must  have  been  a  great  shock 
to  her,  on  both  accounts. 

When  Frances  returned  from  Bath,  her  first  action 
was  to  go  to  Englefield  Green  and  gather  together 
various  things  that  were  stored  there  belonging  to  her 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     403 

mother,  to  the  value  of  £100,  including  some  chimney 
ornaments,  a  pendule,  an  original  oil  portrait  of 
Dorothy,  a  mirror  once  the  property  of  David  Garrick, 
and  the  little  half-finished  rug  which  had  had  its  share 
in  the  quarrel  with  Clarence.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  know  which  of  the  portraits  Mrs.  Alsop  then  secured 
and  sold. 

Her  next  step  was  to  write  to  the  Duke,  and 
this  having  no  effect  she  followed  Mrs.  Clarke's  his- 
toric action  and  began  to  write  her  memoirs,  which 
would  have  included  a  long  correspondence  between 
Clarence  and  her  mother — but  chiefly  letters  from 
Clarence — from  the  beginning  of  their  connection,  for 
she  was  in  possession  of  "sufficient  letters  and  MSS. 
to  fill  a  moderate  sack."  This  volume  Frances  tried 
to  get  Withers  to  publish,  saying  that  she  feared  no 
results,  for  if  she  were  imprisoned  for  libel  she  would 
gain  public  pity.  But  he,  not  having  the  same  incen- 
tive, prudently  refused.  During  these  negotiations 
she  read  part  of  her  production  to  him,  showing  that 
"  her  mother's  nightly  salaries  at  Drury  Lane  were  con- 
stantly paid  in  advance  on  the  night  of  the  perform- 
ance, ere  she  made  her  appearance  on  the  boards." 

Later  biographers  have  always  tried  to  save  the 
royal  honour  by  throwing  scorn  upon  this  and  the 
many  other  statements  to  this  effect,  but  not  one  of 
them  has  brought  any  evidence  to  disprove  such  state- 
ments, and  Dorothy's  later  letters  show  that  Clarence 
was  always  glad  to  receive  contributions. 

A  less  sensitive  publisher,  Colburn,  arranged  to 
bring  out  Mrs.  Alsop's  book,  and  advertised  it  in  June 
1817  as  Authentic  Memoirs  of  Mrs.  [ordan,  but  suc- 
cessful steps  were  taken  to  prevent  its  issue. 

When  the  rest  of  the  family  knew  what  evidence 


404     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

was  hidden  among  those  papers  and  letters,  and  also 
realized  that  their  mother  had  nothing  to  leave  any  of 
them,  they  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  secure 
something  from  the  wreck.  Now  for  the  first  time  did 
the  knowledge  of  the  various  "  loans  "  become  public, 
and  such  paragraphs  as  this  from  The  Theatrical  In- 
quisitor appeared  in  different  papers,  following  upon 
the  granting  of  letters  of  administration — 

"  It  has  since  been  asserted  that  the  narrowness  of 
this  sum  excited  inquiry  as  to  the  disposal  of  her 
known  accumulations;  in  consequence  of  which  a 
memorandum  has  been  traced  in  the  writing  of  Mrs. 
Jordan  which  refers  to  various  sums,  amounting  in 
the  whole  to  £30,000,  lent  to  a  distinguished  friend  in 
trust  for  the  children  of  a  period  previous  to  their 
connection.  To  this  friend  an  application,  it  is  said, 
has  been  made  by  the  heirs  for  payment,  with  an 
assurance  that  the  adjustment  of  their  claims  would 
not  unwillingly  be  referred  to  the  Court  of  Chancery." 

This  threat  levelled  against  the  Duke  had  no  result ; 
it  was  idle,  of  course,  if  Dorothy  had  given  a  receipt 
in  full ;  so  Frances  continued  to  harry  him  while 
struggling  against  her  ineffectiveness  on  the  stage. 
Sympathy  and  her  mother's  memory  gained  her  good 
engagements,  but  she  never  was  anything  but  a  copy 
of  Mrs.  Jordan,  "  a  copy  in  water-colours."  Her  very 
tones  were  borrowed,  and  there  is  doubt  that  she 
possessed  any  real  comic  talent  of  her  own.  She 
quarrelled  with  her  managers,  and  at  times  suffered 
great  poverty. 

Then  the  usual  course  with  an  undesirable  was 
followed.  The  Duke's  agent  paid  a  small  premium 
on  her  debts  of  £3000,  and  gave  her  a  chance  of  going 
to  America  in  comfort.  She  took  the  chance,  and 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     405 

landed  in  New  York  in  September  1820,  where  she 
was  announced  on  theatrical  bills  as  "  The  Grand- 
daughter of  the  Late  King  of  Great  Britain."  Six 
months  later  she  died  of  an  overdose  of  laudanum, 
whether  unintentional  or  in  a  determination  of  taking 
her  own  life  no  one  could  tell. 

The  year  before  this  happened  public  interest  over 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  raised  again  to  a  white  heat  of  scorn 
for  the  Duke,  because  at  the  end  of  June  1819  a  state- 
ment appeared  in  The  Messenger,  an  English  paper 
published  by  Galignani  in  Paris.  This  was  followed 
on  July  4  by  another,  part  of  which  ran — 

"  We  some  days  since  inserted  a  letter  on  the  sub- 
ject of  an  unliquidated  debt  of  sixty  francs,  due  to 
the  municipality  of  St.  Cloud,  for  the  space  of  ground 
appropriated  as  the  last  resting-place  of  the  late  Mrs. 
Jordan.  We  feel  called  upon  to  state,  that  imme- 
diately after  the  publication  of  the  above-mentioned 
letter,  we  received  repeated  applications,  both  personal 
and  in  writing,  from  various  British  residents,  all 
expressing  an  anxious  desire  to  be  permitted  to  take 
the  debt  upon  themselves,  both  from  a  national  feel- 
ing of  what  was  due  to  the  character  of  our  country, 
and  an  individual  sentiment  of  respect  for  the  amiable 
deceased;  and  although,  as  we  have  authority  to 
mention,  the  sum  in  question  has  been  paid  by  a 
particularly  active  competitor  in  the  honourable  race 
of  generosity,  we  nevertheless  continue  each  day  to 
receive  letters  of  the  same  import  from  the  depart- 
ments." 

Between  1816  and  this  date  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
his  agent  and  friends,  had  been  disseminating  the  idea 
that  Dorothy  was  in  possession  of  wealth  to  the  day 
of  her  death,  and  whenever  opportunity  arose,  as  when 


406     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Barrington  wrote,  the  same  course  was  pursued;  but 
no  protestations  can  contradict  such  plain  facts  as 
those  of  the  administration  of  her  money  and  this 
article  from  Paris. 

The  little  sum  which  was  all  that  remained  of  the 
fortune  Dorothy  had  earned  was  the  property  of  the 
Crown  because  of  her  birth ;  but  the  existence  of  debts 
caused  it  to  be  handed  over  to  lawyers  for  use  on  a 
more  auspicious  occasion;  and  as  in  1816  the  debts  of 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  which  he  was  trying  hard  to 
make  the  country  pay,  were  a  source  of  much  gossip, 
Barton  may  have  thought  it  wiser  not  to  bring 
Dorothy's  name  again  before  the  public.  So  it  was  not 
until  more  than  seven  years  had  passed,  in  December 
1823,  that  anything  was  done,  and  then  this  announce- 
ment appeared  in  the  papers — 

"  DOROTHEA  JORDAN,  DECEASED. — The  creditors  of 
Dorothea  Jordan,  late  of  Englefield-green  and  Cado- 
gan-place,  Sloane-street,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex, 
spinster,  deceased,  who  have  proved  their  debts  may 
receive  a  dividend  of  five  shillings  in  the  pound,  by 
applying  at  the  office  of  the  Solicitor  to  the  Treasury, 
No.  5,  Stone-buildings,  Lincoln's-inn.  And  those 
creditors  who  have  not  yet  proved  their  debts,  are 
requested  forthwith  to  furnish  the  Solicitor  of  the 
Treasury  with  proofs  thereof." 

This  was  an  incredibly  stupid  thing  to  have  done 
even  at  that  distance  of  time ;  far  better  would  it  have 
been  to  have  paid  the  trifle  which  was  still  owing  than 
to  stir  up  all  the  old  scandal.  However,  the  Duke 
had  not  been  endowed  with  brains,  and  to  his  man 
had  been  denied  the  gift  of  imagination,  so  they 
deliberately  walked  into  a  mud  heap  of  their  own 
making. 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     407 

It  is  as  well  to  examine  the  sum  which  remained  to 
be  paid.  The  amount  in  hand  was  less  than  £300,  and 
out  of  it  five  shillings  in  the  pound  was  offered,  which 
means  that  the  proved  debts  were  then  less  than  the 
value  of  £1200!  And  for  £900  the  royal  Duke  put 
Dorothy  again  into  the  position  of  a  martyr  with  the 
public,  and  caused  his  own  name  to  become  the  target 
once  more  of  violent  popular  scorn  and  contumely. 

So  by  his  own  deed  the  Duke's  reputation  was  torn 
to  rags  in  the  press,  and  there  was  no  one  to  speak  one 
word  for  him,  save  Barton,  who  at  last  responded  with 
an  anonymous  defence  which  did  nothing  beyond  add- 
ing fuel  to  the  fire.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  letters, 
this  being  addressed  to  The  News — 

"  SIR, 

"  I  observed  a  few  days  ago  (with  what  senti- 
ments of  great  indignation)  an  advertisement  in  the 
daily  papers,  announcing  a  dividend  of  five  shillings  in 
the  pound  as  now  in  course  of  payment  to  the  bona  fide 
creditors  of  the  late  Mrs.  Dorothea  Jordan,  formerly 
of  Cadogan  Terrace  (sic)  and  lastly  of  St.  Cloud  in 
France. 

'  To  those,  Sir,  who  have  witnessed,  as  I  have  often 
done,  the  honourable  and  liberal  feelings  of  the 
lamented  lady  in  pecuniary  matters,  the  generosity  and 
self-denial  with  which  she  permitted  her  theatrical 
salary  to  be  taken  weekly  and  devoted  to  expenses  of 
a  domestic  nature,  which  expenses  in  any  similar  case 
would  have  been  defrayed  from  other  funds,  it  must 
be  a  source  of  pain  to  see  her  name  held  up  to  the 
world  as  that  of  an  insolvent  who  had  lived  beyond 
her  income,  and  defrauded  the  honest  tradesman  of 
his  due.  I  am  persuaded  that  there  are  enough  of  her 


408     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

admirers  still  living,  who,  by  a  public  subscription 
would  have  rescued  her  memory  from  this  degrading 
but  undeserved  reproach.  Though  poor,  my  mite 
should  cheerfully  have  been  contributed  to  such  a 
purpose,  and  hundreds  would,  I  am  assured,  have  been 
eager  to  do  the  same.  If  strangers  to  her  domestic 
hospitality,  and  persons  who  never  partook  of  her 
bounty,  so  feel,  what — may  I  be  allowed  to  ask — must 
have  been  the  sensations  of  her  high-bred  children 
when  they  see  their  noble-minded  parent  thus  held 
forth  to  public  animadversion  ! 

"To  have  been  spared  their  feelings,  had  I,  Mr. 
Editor,  possessed  no  other  resources,  the  privations 
of  nature  should  have  furnished  the  means  to  have 
rescued  a  beloved  mother's  name  from  such  foul  and 
lamented  obloquy. 

"  I  am,  Sir, 

"  AN  ADMIRER  OF  FILIAL  PIETY." 

Paragraphs  from  this  letter  were  reproduced  over 
the  country  and  thus  widely  circulated,  then  on 
January  4,  1824,  the  anonymous  defence  appeared; 
but  as  it  contains  the  same  sentiments,  information  and 
phrases  as  the  longer  statement  which  was  later  forced 
from  Barton's  pen  over  his  signature,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  as  to  who  was  the  author  of  this.  It  is  but 
justice  to  reproduce  this  defence. 

"  A  paragraph  is  now  in  progress  through  the  news- 
papers, stating  that  the  debts  of  this  lamented  and 
interesting  lady  have  been  compounded  for  five  shil- 
lings in  the  pound,  which  is  now  in  course  of  payment. 
This  statement  is  not  correct :  Mrs.  Jordan  died 
intestate  in  France;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  her 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     409 

property  vests  in  the  Crown,  and  it  has  become  the 
duty  of  the  King's  solicitor  to  collect  her  effects  and 
apply  them  in  the  first  instance  to  the  payment  of  her 
debts.  He  has  done  this,  and  announced  a  payment 
to  the  extent  stated.  This  is  the  fact,  but  it  is  not 
a  composition  of  the  lady's  debts;  the  same  course 
would  be  adopted  in  the  case  of  any  other  British 
subject  dying  abroad  intestate.  But  perhaps  it  would 
not  have  been  necessary  to  notice  the  misrepresenta- 
tion, were  it  not  for  the  use  to  which  it  is  applied  by 
some  of  the  public  prints,  in  which  it  is  made  the 
ground  of  a  bitter  invective  against  a  royal  personage, 
formerly  connected  with  that  interesting  female,  by 
many  dear  and  intimate  ties.  Nothing  can  be  more 
unfounded  than  the  charge,  in  which  it  is  stated  that 
she  was  left  totally  unprovided — to  pine  and  die  in 
want  in  a  foreign  land.  Mrs.  Jordan  enjoyed  an 
income  of  £2000  a  year,  settled  upon  her  by  the  royal 
Duke.  It  was  paid  quarterly  at  Coutts's  bank  in  the 
Strand;  and  the  last  quarter,  which  did  not  become 
due  until  after  her  death,  was  received  by  a  lady, 
formerly  a  governess  at  Bushy,  and  afterwards 
resident  with  her  as  a  companion  in  France,  who  came 
over  to  London  for  the  purpose.  But  the  report  of 
the  total  abandonment  and  destitution  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
is  not  new;  it  has  been  so  long  and  frequently  reported, 
and  suffered  to  pass  without  contradiction,  it  is  now 
received  as  truth  in  every  circle;  that  it  has  not  been 
noticed  by  some  of  the  friends  of  the  royal  person 
aspersed,  may  excite  surprise.  We  feel  it  our  duty, 
however,  to  expose  the  misrepresentation,  without 
regard  to  wishes  of  the  friends  of  his  Royal  Highness. 
The  exposure  is  due  to  the  cause  of  truth,  it  is  due  to 
the  country  which  has  an  interest  in  the  character  of 


4io     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

the  illustrious  individual  so  near  to  the  throne,  which 
could  not  belong  to  the  case  of  a  subject,  however 
important,  of  inferior  rank." 

An  interesting  point  in  this  matter  is  that  when 
Dorothy  was  induced  to  flee  from  England  the  debts 
were  said  to  be  £2000,  but  after  her  death  nine  months 
later  they  were  only  under  £1200.  How  had  the  sum 
of  £800  been  cleared  off  ?  Was  that  why  Dorothy  was 
so  desperately  poor  when  in  France,  or  had  March 
subsequently  developed  grit  in  his  character,  and  paid 
off  some  himself?  Barton  also  says  that  £500  was 
collected  by  Miss  Sketchley  after  Mrs.  Jordan's  death, 
but  March  asserts  that  the  last  payment  to  her  was 
made  in  the  preceding  April.  Who  was  telling  the 
truth  ?  or  was  that  £500  used  to  clear  some  part  of  the 
debt?  Barton  of  course  was  not  likely  to  divulge 
the  enormous  claims  that  there  were  upon  Dorothy's 
allowance,  her  daughters,  the  Alsop  debts  and  her  own 
private  ones. 

As  Barton's  longer  and  acknowledged  statement  has 
been  practically  reproduced  in  various  parts  of  this 
book^.only  some  few  assertions  need  be  added.  By 
slightly  altering  the  statement  above  reproduced  he 
begins  his  explanation,  then  proceeds  to  acquaint  the 
public  "  in  the  first  place  that  it  was  through  my  hands 
that  the  whole  transaction  upon  the  separation  of  the 
Duke  and  Mrs.  Jordan  passed ;  that  it  was  at  my  sug- 
gestion Mrs.  Jordan  adopted  the  resolution  of  leaving 
this  country  for  France,  to  enable  her  the  more  readily 
and  honourably  to  extricate  herself  from  troubles  into 
which  she  had  fallen  through  a  misplaced  confidence." 

The  italics  are  not  Mr.  Barton's,  but  that  sentence 
shows  that  he  was  responsible  for  that  unnecessary 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     411 

and  sad  exile;  he  must  have  been  aware  at  the  time 
that  there  was  no  need  for  it,  even  though  she  felt 
herself  past  taking  theatrical  engagements. 

He  then  adds  that  up  to  "  the  day  of  their  separation 
Mrs.  Jordan  had  received  a  large  annual  allowance 
from  his  Royal  Highness."  And  so  again  he  stands 
convicted,  for  Dorothy's  own  letters  prove  that  so  far 
from  the  bond  being  honoured  she  had  been  spoon- 
feeding the  Duke  for  years  from  her  earnings. 

It  was  probably  through  Barton  that  Edward  March 
wrote  an  "Authentic  Statement,"  already  quoted,  to 
vindicate  himself  and  incidentally  the  Duke  from  blame 
in  the  business;  he  speaks  of  himself  under  the  title 
of  "a  near  relative,"  details  somewhat  vaguely  the 
story  of  the  sudden  discovery  of  her  liability,  says  that 
no  penny  towards  the  liquidation  of  the  debts  was 
paid  during  her  life,  that  she  knew  that  no  impediment 
to  the  arrangement  of  these  debts  existed,  and  conse- 
quently, when  she  found  that  month  after  month 
elapsed  without  anything  being  finally  settled,  her 
mind  became  troubled.  He  then  detailed  the  dis- 
agreement with  Miss  Sketchley  and  the  refusal 
through  irritation  to  grant  Mrs.  Jordan's  request  to  be 
assured  on  oath  that  no  further  claims  existed ;  stated 
that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  letter  Dorothy  had  written 
to  Barton,  and  that  it  was  only  in  January  1816  that 
"the  lady  alluded  to  (Miss  Sketchley)  informed  two 
of  Mrs.  Jordan's  daughters,  that  Mrs.  Jordan's  future 
place  of  residence  in  France  was  to  be  kept  a  pro- 
found secret  from  them,  and  that  all  letters  from  them 
to  their  mother  must  be  sent  through  a  third  person 
and  directed  to  Mrs.  James,  instead  of  Mrs.  Jordan." 

As  has  been  said,  Dorothy  called  herself  James,  and 
had  her  letters  sent  to  a  post-office  from  her  first  arrival 


414     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

in  such  a  case;  but  being  pinned  down  by  it  he 
gave  her  exactly  what  the  bond  decreed.  Later  he 
demanded  a  total  termination  of  all  intercourse  with 
him — even  on  the  subject  of  their  children,  and  left 
her  in  the  hands  of  a  lawyer,  who  was  hired  to  exact 
the  last  farthing  possible  from  all  sources  for  his 
master,  an  arrangement  which  well  suited  him  until 
this  servant,  unable  to  weigh  causes  and  effects,  to 
distinguish  between  an  unknown  woman  and  a  public 
favourite,  so  bungled  matters  as  to  drag  his  employer's 
name  publicly  through  the  mud  again  and  again. 

Happily  she  herself  knew  nothing  of  this  later  dis- 
grace ;  she  was  dead,  the  light-hearted,  gay  spirit,  who 
loved  laughter  better  than  tears ;  the  strong  spirit,  who 
bore  in  her  youth  the  heavy  burdens  of  others,  and  in 
later  life  expended  herself  upon  her  children  and  their 
father;  the  generous  spirit,  who  gave  royally  and  to 
whom  so  little  was  given;  fortunately  she  was  dead, 
while  all  these  lesser  people  quarrelled  and  lied  over 
her  life  and  memory. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

GATHERED  ENDS 

"Judgment,  which  every  little  fault  could  spy; 
But  Candour,  that  would  pass  a  thousand  by : 
Judgment  and  Candour  used  together  can 
Unravel  secrets  in  the  life  of  man." 

ANON. 

"Admiral  Tarry-Breeks,  a  Royal  Duke, 
The  moral  brother  of  a  moral  King, 
Is  anxious  'mongst  the  Lords  to  look 
A  sapient,  nautical,  and  righteous  thing. 

"  But  ere  he  points  at  Britain's  Queen  a  shaft, 

Or  steps,  the  ship  that  chases  her,  a-board  on, 
He  should  remember  memory  looks  abaft, 
And  reads  his  morals  in  the  hapless  Jordan." 

"BEN  BACKSTAY":  The  Black  Dwarf. 

YET  later  arose  the  idea  that  Mrs.  Jordan  was  not 
dead,  Boaden  started  it  in  his  "  life  "  of  her,  so  it  took 
fifteen  years  to  bring  this  fancy  to  birth.  His  story 
is  that  stopping  one  day  to  look  in  a  bookseller's 
window  in  Piccadilly  he  saw  a  lady  stop  also,  whom  he 
became  convinced  was  his  old  friend.  However,  she 
immediately  dropped  a  long  white  veil  over  her  face, 
so,  concluding  that  she  did  not  wish  to  be  recognized, 
he  "  yielded  to  her  pleasure  on  this  occasion."  The 
chief  evidence  he  shows  is  that  as  Dorothy  was  near- 
sighted she  used  eye-glasses  suspended  from  a  gold 
chain  round  her  neck,  which  she  used  in  a  very  pecu- 
liar manner,  a  peculiarity  which  this  unknown  seems 
to  have  reproduced. 

Mrs.  Alsop,  too,  said  that  she  had  met  her  mother 
in  the  Strand  after  her  death,  and  was  so  certain  of  it 

415 


412     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

in  France,  and  he  must  have  known  it.  Indeed,  the 
whole  authentic  statement  is  so  garbled,  so  contra- 
dictory in  almost  every  particular  that  nothing  is  to 
be  made  of  it.  His  last  assertion  is  that  "  there  can 
be  no  question  that  the  mind  of  this  great  woman  had 
been  long  and  grievously  oppressed.  .  .  .  Can  there 
be  a  severer  censure  upon  her  memory  than  to  think 
that  pecuniary  difficulties,  even  weighty  (which  hers 
were  not),  could  for  any  length  of  time  have  depressed 
a  mind  such  as  hers  in  its  perfect  state  ?  " 

Well,  she  had  surely  had  enough,  if  ever  any  woman 
had,  to  unhinge  her  mind,  certainly  to  deprive  it  of 
courage  and  tranquillity;  but  those  who  saw  her  in 
France  give  no  hint  that  she  was  mad,  or  even 
unbalanced. 

The  newspaper  controversy  was  in  effect  closed  by 
a  letter  signed  "  Humanus,"  addressed  to  John  Barton, 
which,  though  exaggerated  in  respect  to  Dorothy's 
life  and  condition  in  France,  shows  with  satiric  force 
the  attitude  generally  adopted  by  the  public  on  the 
matter.  I  quote  only  a  part  of  it. 

"With  your  approbation  she  fled  to  France,  and 
there  lived  in  want  and  misery.  Your  amiable  and 
illustrious  master  was  not  ignorant  of  her  embarrass- 
ments; yet  they  were  unheeded.  How  they  affected 
her,  the  letter  she  wrote  from  St.  Cloud  is  too 
melancholy  an  evidence. 

"  It  is  well  known  she  sunk  under  the  pressure  of 
her  situation;  foreigners  supplied  her  with  rags  to 
cover  her  squalid  and  emaciated  frame,  and  the 
benevolence  of  foreigners  was  taxed  to  lay  her  ashes 
in  the  tomb.  Why  did  not  you,  sir,  communicate  these 
circumstances  to  your  master  ?  Why  did  you  not  say 
that  the  annuity  was  a  sealed  book — that  she  was 


The  Dead  and  the  Living     413 

wretched  and  forlorn  in  a  foreign  land?  Had  your 
amiable  and  illustrious  master  heard  this  tale  of  woe 
he  must  have  flown  to  her  relief,  repaid  the  large  sums 
which  he  had  drawn  from  her  theatrical  talents \  or  at 
least  taken  some  steps  to  withdraw  the  arrest  upon  the 
annuity.  Surely  you  must  have  known  that  a  slander- 
ous world  would  have  interpreted  your  apathy  into  the 
apathy  of  your  patron,  and  that  there  was  risk,  how- 
ever pure  and  spotless  the  House  of  Brunswick  is,  of 
a  shadow  passing  across  the  lustre  of  one  of  its 
brightest  ornaments.  And  busy  tongues,  too,  might 
have  said  that  the  bond  had  a  careful  provision,  which 
by  legal  or  voluntary  assignees  were  to  annul  its 
efficacy,  and  that  the  prospect  of  these  had  swayed  the 
noble-hearted  and  munificent  granter  in  amplifying  its 
contents. 

"  Unjustifiable  and  malicious  as  these  allusions 
were,  the  credulous  public  might  have  given  them  ear, 
and  it  was  your  duty  to  have  prevented  them.  You 
are  not  entitled,  in  exculpation,  to  plead  the  profuse 
allowance  of  two  hundred  pounds  sterling  afterwards 
granted  to  Mrs.  Jordan's  daughters.  Is  it  any  excuse 
to  an  ungrateful  country  that  monuments  are  reared 
and  paeans  are  sung  to  one  whose  lamp  has  expired 
from  want  of  the  oil  of  subsistence  ? 

'  The  Athenians  honoured  their  Socrates  after 
compelling  him  to  drink  the  hemlock  juice." 

Dorothy  was  beyond  love  and  beyond  suffering,  so 
this  quarrel  mattered  nothing  to  her.  The  Duke's  love 
went  as  she  lost  her  youthfulness  and  grace,  and  for 
several  years  he  was  trying  to  sever  the  connection. 
When  at  last  the  strain  had  reached  breaking-point 
he  did  his  best  to  be  relieved  from  the  promise  he  had 
given  her  in  legal  form  as  to  the  provision  to  be  made 


that  it  "  threw  her  into  fits  at  the  time ;  and  to  her  own 
death  she  believed  that  she  had  not  been  deceived." 

Because  of  the  above  gossip  a  further  veil  fell  over 
Dorothy's  fate,  and  later  biographers  cast  doubt  over 
the  account  of  the  last  sad  days;  mystery  is  so  much 
more  romantic  than  plain  fact.  Why  did  not  Boaden 
go  the  whole  way,  and  say  that  he  had  seen  her  shade 
which  had  appeared  to  him  to  prove  that  she  was  really 
dead  ?  But  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that  the  Mayor  of 
St.  Cloud  could  not  have  registered  as  dead,  a  woman 
who  had  simply  left  the  neighbourhood,  nor  would  the 
various  and  independent  accounts  of  her  illness  and 
death  have  provided  such  conclusive  evidence. 

It  would  have  been  well  if  this  book  could  have 
closed  with  the  last  chapter,  but  there  are  so  many 
references  to  her  in  later  years,  and  so  many  small 
points  to  clear  up,  that  a  few  more  pages  are  necessary. 

There  is,  for  instance,  the  attitude  of  William,  Duke 
of  Clarence,  who  may  have  been  greatly  relieved  at 
the  removal  of  this  incubus  upon  his  mind.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  may  have  been  more  worthy  of  the  love 
with  which  Dorothy  Jordan  lavished  upon  him  than 
history  tells.  He  certainly  became  very  ill  in  July 
1816,  an  illness  which  lasted  so  long  that  on  August 
22  his  birthday  was  celebrated  at  Frogmore  without 
his  presence.  It  is  somewhat  damping  to  sentiment, 
however,  to  find  that  the  illness  was  ascribed  to  severe 
stomachic  trouble.  Though  he  was  not  at  his  birthday 
party,  one  may  wonder  whether  his  thoughts  harked 
back  to  that  birthday  party  ten  years  earlier  when 
Dorothy  took  the  head  of  the  Royal  table,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  on  her  right ;  their  children  being  brought  in 
for  the  admiration  of  the  guests. 

It  has  been  said  that  he  eventually  continued  his 


Gathered  Ends  417 

allowance  to  Mrs.  March  and  Mrs.  later  Lady  Hawker; 
he  also  continued  to  Hester  Bland  at  Trelethyn  the 
annuity  of  £50  a  year,  and  when  he  became  King  he 
doubled  this  amount,  and  the  kind  little  Queen  Victoria 
continued  this  sum  until  Hester  died  at  the  ripe  age  of 
eighty-nine,  in  1848.  It  may  also  have  been  through 
the  same  source  that  the  nonogenarian,  Miss  Thim- 
bleby  lived  free  from  want  in  Manfredonia. 

When  William,  in  his  fatuity  joined  in  trying  to 
destroy  Queen  Caroline,  some  papers  became  almost 
terrible  in  their  wrath,  and  Jordan,  Jordan,  was  the 
cry :  "  What,  is  the  age  so  lost  to  dignity  that  avowed 
guilt  can  sit  in  judgment  on  persecuted  innocence? 
One  would  think  the  spectre  of  the  unfortunate  Jordan 
would  push  him  from  his  stool  (in  the  House  of  Lords). 
.  .  .  The  people  have  seen  open  and  notorious 
adulterers  audaciously  sitting  in  judgment  upon  a 
brave  and  virtuous  Queen ;  they  have  witnessed  a  man 
who  has  inundated  his  country  with  bastards,  and 
deserted  the  deserving  but  helpless  mother  of  his  off- 
spring, and  finally  left  her  to  perish  like  a  dog  in  the 
streets,  and  to  be  buried  as  a  pauper  at  the  public 
charge  when  she  ceased  to  maintain  him  by  her  own 
exertions,  going  about  and  slandering  his  sovereign, 
etc."  (The  Black  Dwarf.) 

A  caricature  of  this  period  actually  did  show 
Dorothy  appearing  to  him  from  her  coffin,  to  denounce 
him,  though  denunciation  was  the  very  last  weapon  she 
would  have  used. 

When  Adelaide  of  Saxe-Meiningen  took  the  Duke 
in  hand  he  was  coarse,  neglectful,  almost  brutal, 
looking  upon  her  as  just  a  medium  for  providing  an 
heir  to  the  throne.  She,  however,  at  once  began  the 
tutoring  which  he  needed,  and  before  long  he  began  to 
DD 


4i 8     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

modify  his  most  obvious  sins  of  manner  and  life,  an 
improvement  which  was  soon  communicated  to  the 
public  in  the  usual  pictures  and  verses.  In  one  of  the 
former  the  Duke  and  Duchess  sit  side  by  side  on  a  sofa 
beneath  a  picture  of  the  River  Jordan  with  many  tribu- 
taries, and  with  admonitory  finger  raised,  Adelaide 
sternly  says,  "  Mind  !  I  will  not  have  it !  "  to  her 
gaping  lord. 

It  is  probably  due  to  Adelaide's  fine  sense  of  justice 
that  at  last  Clarence  came  to  realize  Dorothy's  worth, 
and  would  speak  of  her  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  Some 
time  after  becoming  King  he  sent  for  Chantrey,  the 
sculptor,  and  offered  him  the  commission  of  making 
a  marble  monument  to  Dorothy,  discussing  at  some 
length  the  proposed  statue  and  the  place  in  which  it 
should  stand.  He  then,  says  Miss  Berry  in  her  diary, 
"  went  into  a  thousand  particulars  of  their  private  life, 
always  ending  that  she  had  been  an  excellent  mother 
to  her  children." 

Chantrey  accepted  the  commission  and  produced  the 
most  beautiful  emblem  of  maternal  love  that  his  mind 
could  conceive.  The  face  and  figure  are  those  of 
Dorothy,  and  the  ineffable  tenderness  which  curves 
the  lips  as  she  gazes  down  upon  her  child,  reveals  her 
mother-soul,  strong  with  love  and  protectiveness. 

It  was  soon  after  his  accession  that  he  ordered  this 
statue  to  be  made,  but  in  1839  it  was  still  in  Chantrey's 
studio,  and  seemingly  also  after  the  sculptor's  death, 
for  the  Earl  of  Munster,  her  child,  had  objected  to  the 
spot  chosen  for  it.  Thomas  Moore  mentions  seeing  it 
there,  and  a  Mr.  Cornish  wrote  of  it  in  Notes  and 
Queries  in  1851  as  having  been  there  "some  years 
since."  It  is  curious,  however,  that  the  statue  he  saw 
does  not  tally  with  the  known  group.  He  says :  "  I 


DOROTHY   JORDAN 

FROM   THE   STATUK    BY    CHANTRKY    IN    THE    POSSESSION    OF   THE 
EARL   OF    MUNSTER,    BY   WHOSE   KIND    PERMISSION    IT    IS    REPRODUCED 


Gathered  Ends  419 

was  singularly  impressed  with  the  gracefulness  and 
beauty  of  a  female  figure,  with  three  children ;  one  was 
at  her  breast,  and  in  the  curled  head  of  another  at  her 
feet  was  the  mother's  hand  enfolded.  On  the  pedestal 
was  this  inscription  :  *  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Norah 
Bland.' ' 

The  statue  which  now  holds  an  honoured  place  in 
the  house  of  the  present  Earl  of  Munster,  has  but  two 
children,  a  babe  sleeping  in  the  mother's  lap,  while 
she  with  her  disengaged  hand  is  softly  drawing  up 
some  drapery  to  cover  it,  the  curly-headed  boy  standing 
at  his  mother's  knee  and  looking  with  childish  wonder 
at  his  little  sister.  There  also  is  no  inscription  other 
than  the  name  of  the  sculptor.  So  what  Mr.  Cornish 
saw  was  perhaps  a  first  suggestion  for  the  statue, 
which  had  been  retained  in  the  studio. 

This  beautiful  work  of  art  was  for  a  considerable 
time  at  Mapledurham  in  the  possession  of  her  son 
Augustus,  who,  though  longing  to  be  a  sailor,  was 
thrust  into  the  Church,  that  he  might  be  provided  for 
at  the  expense  of  the  souls  he  could  hardly  hope  to 
save.  If  this  statue  had  to  go  begging  for  a  resting- 
place  in  earlier  days,  there  can  be  few  of  Dorothy's 
descendants  now  who  would  not  welcome  such  a 
treasure  into  their  homes  with  pride,  for  time  brings 
its  revenge,  strips  history  of  feeling  and  allows  judg- 
ment to  have  its  value.  To-day  we  would  seek  a 
portrait  of  Dorothy  Jordan  with  keen  interest,  while 
one  of  William  IV  would  not,  for  its  subject,  draw  the 
connoisseur  into  the  next  room. 

As  for  Dorothy's  children  we  find  stray  evidences 
here  and  there  that  some  of  them  remembered  her  with 
love  and  reverence.  The  poet  Bunn  gives  a  long  entry 
in  his  diary  of  the  date  April  24,  1834,  proving  this. 


420     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

; 

"  Captain  Lord  Frederick  Fitzclarence,  who  was 
present  on  this  occasion  (a  command  performance  at 
Drury  Lane),  called  me  out  of  the  Green  Room,  and 
with  a  considerable  degree  of  excitement,  said,  '  Bunn, 
I  have  never  been  behind  the  scenes  of  this  theatre 
since  the  last  evening  my  dear  mother  performed  here, 
and  [here  his  Lordship  took  me  by  the  arm,  walked 
down  the  long  passage  on  that  side  of  the  house,  and 
kicked  open  the  dressing-room  door  at  the  end  of  it] 
that  is  the  room  in  which  she  used  to  dress.  I  came 
with  her  almost  every  night,  long,  long  before  I  wore 
any  of  these  gew-gaws  [pointing  to  his  uniform  and  its 
decorations].  Excuse  my  emotion  [passing  his  hand 
over  his  eyes]  I  could  not  help,  and  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  could  not  resist  being  here  to-night,  but  I 
never  mean  to  come  again.  I  was  happier  then  than, 
with  all  the  enjoyments  of  life,  I  have  ever  been 
since.' 

'  The  temporary  astonishment  of  the  performers 
thus  suddenly  broken  in  upon  at  their  labours  of  the 
toilet  were  lost  sight  of  in  the  admiration  of  those  to 
whom  this  charming  touch  of  nature  was  communi- 
cated." 

How  far  Bunn's  pride  at  being  taken  by  the  arm  by 
one  of  William's  children  coloured  this  narrative 
cannot  be  said,  but  the  Drury  Lane  in  which  Dorothy 
acted  was  burnt  down  in  1809,  and  rebuilt  on  a  new 
plan,  and  only  once  at  a  charitable  performance  in 
1813  could  she  have  been  in  the  dressing-room  which 
Frederick  Fitzclarence  so  affectingly  kicked  open. 

Of  Adolphus,  the  fourth  son,  Bunn  wrote,  on  April 
28,  1838:  "Favoured  with  a  long  chat  by  Lord 
Adolphus  Fitzclarence,  who  is  one  of  the  very  best 
hearted  gentlemen  of  England  to  be  found  in  her 


Gathered  Ends  421 

broad  and  free  land,  and  full  of  all  good  qualities. 
His  habitual  respect  for  the  good  old  King,  his  ex- 
cellent father,  and  the  fondness  with  which  he  clings 
to  the  minutest  recollection  of  his  gifted  mother, 
would  serve  as  a  bright  example  to  most  of  the 
aristocracy  amongst  whom  he  daily  breathes." 

In  conclusion,  a  list  with  some  particulars,  of 
Dorothy's  children  may  be  interesting.  It  can  only 
be  as  exact  as  evidence  allows,  for  much  knowledge 
is  wanting. 

Frances  Daly,  born  1782,  married  Thomas  Alsop, 
1808,  died  in  America,  1821. 

Hester  Bettesworth,  born  (?).  This  daughter  may  be 
regarded  as  unproven,  though  she  took  the  name  of 
Bettesworth  in  1806  because,  as  one  journal  said,  "her 
father,  having  recently  died,  had  left  her  considerable 
property."  There  are  other  indications  of  her 
existence  however. 

Dorothea  Maria  Ford,  born  (?i787),  married  Ed- 
ward March,  of  the  Ordnance  Office,  at  the  Tower  of 
London,  1809,  had  several  children,  one  Leopold, 
being  educated  for  a  time  at  Haverfordwest  Grammar 
School,  with  young  James,  the  adopted  son  of 
Nathaniel  Bland. 

Lucy  Ford,  born  1788  or  1789,  married  General  Sir 
Samuel  Hawker,  being  his  second  wife,  1810,  had  ten 
children,  one,  Olivia,  being  baptized  in  Trelethyn. 

There  were  ten  Fitzclarences,  all  of  whom,  with  the 
exception  of  Henry,  who  died,  and  Elizabeth  and 
Amelia,  who  already  had  higher  rank,  were  given  the 
position  of  the  younger  children  of  a  Marquis  in  1831. 
These  were— 

Sophia,   born    1792   or   1797,   married    1825,  Mr. 


422     The  Story  of  Dorothy  Jordan 

Sydney,  who  was  created  a  baronet,  and  then  Lord 
de  Lile  and  Dudley  in  1835.  Died  at  Kensington 
Palace  1837,  had  six  children. 

George  Augustus,  Earl  of  Munster,  born  January 
23>  J794>  married  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Egremont.  Died  March  30,  1842,  buried  in  Hampton 
Church. 

Henry,  born  March  27,  1795,  died,  Captain  in  27th 
Foot,  India,  1817. 

Mary,  born  November  18,  1798,  married  1824, 
Charles  Richard  Fox,  son  of  Lord  and  Lady  Holland. 

Frederick,  born  December  9,  1799,  married  Lady 
Augusta  Boyle. 

Elizabeth,  born  January  18,  1801,  married  Decem- 
ber 1820,  William  George,  Earl  of  Errol,  son  of  Earl 
of  Glasgow. 

Adolphus,  born  February  18,  1802,  made  Admiral 


Augusta,  born  November  20,  1803,  married  1827, 
Hon.  John  Kennedy  Erskine,  widowed  1831,  married 
again  1836,  Lord  Frederick  Gordon,  son  of  the 
Marquis  of  Huntly. 

Augustus,  born  March  i,  1805,  Rector  of  Maple- 
durham  and  Chaplain  to  William  IV.  Married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Lord  Gordon. 

Amelia,  born,  it  is  believed,  March  20,  1807,  married 
1830,  Lucius,  gth  Earl  Falkland.  There  was  some 
confusion  about  the  birth  of  Amelia,  it  being  variously 
given  as  March  20,  1807,  and  November  5,  1803,  the 
latter  probably  a  misprint  for  1806. 


INDEX 


ADELAIDE,  Queen,  185,  285,  311. 

339 

Adolphus,  John,  118 
Advertiser  and  Oracle,  218,  254 
Alsop,  Frances,  81,  197,  214,  242, 

252»  253.  255.  263,  272i   275, 

297,  304,  358,  359-368,  400-4. 

414,  421 
,  Thomas,  272,  274,  283,  315, 

341,  362,  363,  421 

,  William,  272 

Amelia,  Princess,  226,  289,  307 
Angelo,  Henry,  83 
Astley,  Philip,  55,  201 
Athlone,  Earl  and  Countess,  257 

Bannister,  Charles,  243 

,  John,  121,    199,  200,   209, 

241,  243,  247,  249,  368 
Barnes,  Miss,  no 
Barrington,  Sir  Jonah,  v,  vi,  13, 

18,  44,  45-8,  in,  284,  291-6, 

297,  298,  370,  381,  391,  406 
Barrymore,  actor,  103,  209 
Barton,  John,  322,  329,  349,  359, 

367,   374,  377-So.   382,  386-9, 

397.  402,  408,  412 

,  Venus,  337 

Bate,  "  Parson,"  83 

Bayley,  Capt.  William,  108 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  276 

Bell's  Weekly,  349 

Belsance,  Count,  175 

Benson,  actor,  209 

Bentinck,  Lord  William,  372 

Berkeley,  Grantley,  151 

Berry,  Miss,  269,  418 

Bettesworth  (?  Hester),  115,  197. 

214,  243,  252-5,  421 

(?  W.  M.),  90,  105,  252,  254 

Betty,  Henry  West,  244-6 
Bignall,  William,  274,  275 
Black  Dwarf  ,  417 


Blake,  Mrs.  Warenne,  267,   321. 

339 
Bland,  Adam,  24 

,  Dean,  25 

,  Mrs.  (Elizabeth  Heaton),  25 

,   Capt.   Francis,   17,   20,  23, 

28-36.  78 
,  Capt.  Francis,  jun..  33,  37, 

114.  1 66,  231-5 
,    Mrs.    Francis.      See    Grace 

Philipps 

,  Francis  Christopher,  165-7 

,  George,  33,  37,  81, 95, 114-6. 

124,  132-6,  178,  231-5 
,  Mrs.  George  (Maria  Teresa 

Romanzini),  132-7,  390 

— ,  Hester,  29,  35,  36,  38-40. 

74,  81,  in,  214,235,401 

,  Sir  Humphry,  26 

,  Rev.  James,  25,  36 

,  John,  M.A.,  martyr,  24 

,  John,    barrister-at-law    and 

actor,  25-8,  31,  32,  95,  129,  215 

,  Mrs.  John  (Nancy),  28,  32 

,  Lucy,  32,  33,  37 

,   Nathaniel,   Judge,   20,    24, 

25~30,  35.  37.  215.  216 
,    Nathaniel,    son    of    Judge 

Bland,  37,  157,  165 
,  Nathaniel  Philipps,  33,  36, 

81,114,  "5.235,362 
,  Mrs.  N.  P.  (Phoebe  James), 

"4.  235 

,  Patricius  de,  24 

Blane,  Sir  Gilbert,  265,  369 
Bleackley,  Mr.  Horace,  viii,  18 
Boaden,  James,  v,  vi,  12,  17,  18, 

63.  65,  85,  loo,  in,  123,  134. 

1 60,   176,   193,  199,  202,  205, 

2O7,    2IO,    2I§,    222,    224,    226, 
237,    2SI,    254,    276,    28l,     283, 

284,  286,  290,  316,   343,  358. 
394.  415 


423 


424 


Index 


Bon  Ton  Magazine,  17,  135,  155, 

177,   189,  igo,  202,  203,  260 

Booth,    Maryanne    (Lady    Ford), 

162 

Boswell,  James,  205 
Bouverie,  Mrs.,  172 
Brewster,  Lucy,  wife  of  Judge 

Bland,  25 
Broadley,   Mr.  A.  M.,  vii,  18,  19, 

285, 385 

Brown,  Mrs.,  78,  86 
Brunton,  Miss,  86,  121 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  322   337 
Buckinghamshire,      Countess     of. 

See  Mrs.  Hobart 
Bunn,  Alfred,  419 

Cady  of  the  Royal  Circus,  132 
Calvert,  Hon.  Mrs.,  267,  321,  339 
Cambridge,    Duke    of,    257,  258, 
279 

• ,  Richard  Owen,  153 

Campbell,  Thomas,  101,  103,  245 
Carey,  George  Saville,  121,  186 
Carlisle,  Nicholas,  27 
Caulfield,  comedian,  136,  137 
Chalmers,  W.  A.,  183,  186 
Chantrey,  Sir  Francis,  418 
Charlotte,  Queen,   180    181,  226, 

277.  307,  3ii,  338,  35i 

,  Princess,  338 

Charlton,  actor,  368 

Cherry,  Andrew,  229 

Christian,  Admiral  Sir  Charles, 
192,  203 

Clarence,  William  Duke  of,  v,  vii, 
11-16,  65,  104,  121,  146,  158, 
159,  161,  167,  171,  175,  180, 
184,  187-9,  200,  203-5,  211, 
216,  218,  220,  230,  234-6,  242, 
245,  248,  251,  253,  256-61, 
265-7,  269,  271-2,  274,  278-9, 
284,  289,  293,  297,  299,  302, 
305,  319-39,  345-9,  352,  358, 
365,  371,  373.  377^9,  391,  397. 
401,  403,  405,  413 

Clarke,  Mary  Anne,  277,  403 

Cleveland,  Duchess  of,  193 

Clive,  Kitty,  86 

Cobbett,  William,  12,  256-61,  267 

Coffin,  Col.  John  Pyne,  372-3, 
377 


Colburn,  Henry,  403 

Collier,  Lady,  108 

Collingwood,  Admiral,  267 

Colman,  George,  jun.,  197 

Copeland,  Robert,  261 

Corri,  295,  297 

Crampton,  Dublin  manager,  296 

Creevey,  Thoma^,  383 

Crosby,  "  Balloon,"  47 

Crouch,    Mrs.   Anna    Maria,    109, 

118,  120,   124,   163,    169,  181, 

193,  241 
Cumberland,  Ernest  Duke  of,  150, 

248,  323,  226 

,  Richard,  200,  221 

Cuthbertson,  Miss,  195 

Daily  Advertiser  and  Oracle,  254 
Daly,  Richard,  16,  42,  43,  46-55, 

65,  132,  200,  271 

,  Frances.     See  Alsop 

Dalrymple,  Miss,  108 

De  Camp,  Miss,  223 

De  Lisle  and  Dudley,  Lord,  421 

Denmark,  Princess  of,  338 

Derby,    Countess    of.      See    Miss 

Farren 

,  Earl  of,  211 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography, 

21,  44,  206 

Digges,  West,  26,  32,  95 
Dowton,  William,  185 
Doyne,    Cornet   Charles    Powlett, 

45 
Dramatic  Magazine,  84,  123,  219 

Dublin  Evening  Post,  55 
Dublin  Satirist,  295 
Ducamp,  Madame,  381 
Dwyer,  actor,  291,  292,  295-7 

Eden,  Baron,  257 

Edinburgh  Herald,  129 

Edwin,  John,  125 

Egan,  Pierce,  261 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  226 

Elliot,  Mrs.,  217,  218 

Elphinston,    Margaret,     Baroness 

Nairn,  337 

Errol,  William,  Earl  of,  229,  422 
Erskine,  Hon.  John  Kennedy,  422 
Esten,  Mrs.,  54,  139 


Index 


425 


Falkland,  Earl  of,  422 

Farren,  Miss  (Countess  of  Derby), 

81,  101,  109,  120, 123,  197,  199, 

211 

Fashionable  Cypriad,  in,  204,  257 
Fife,  Duke  of,  15,  229 
Finch,  Polly,  153 
Fisher,  380 

,  Clara,  246 

Fitzclarence,    Admiral    Adolphus, 

229,  268,  420,  422 
,  Amelia,  Viscountess  Falkland, 

184,  263,  422 
,  Augusta,     Lady     Frederick 

Gordon,  247,  422 
,  Augustus,    Rev.,    Rector    of 

Mapledurham,    247,    267,   419, 

422 
,  Elizabeth,     Countess     Errol, 

229,  422 
,  Frederick,  225, 285,  366,  371, 

— — ,  GeorgeTEarl  of  Munster,  184, 

192,  218,  219,  260,  267-8,  289, 

•*  293.  319.  355.  363-5>  4i8-9,  422 

,  Henry,  Lieutenant,  201,  202, 

267,  303.  340,  355.  364.  366,  422 
,  Mary,  Lady  Mary  Fox,  397, 

400,  422 
,  Sophia,  Lady  De  Lisle  and 

Dudley,  213,  267,  303,  319,  351, 

383.  397.  42i 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Henry,  201,  273 
Fitzherbert,  Mrs.,  150,  179,   187, 

278 
Ford,  Dorothea  Maria.    See  March, 

Mrs. 

,  James,  Dr.,  105,  113 

,  Lucy.      See   Hawker,    Lady 

Samuel 
— ,  Richard,  Sir,  16,  105-7,  no, 

H2,  116,  134,  137-40,154,  156- 

62,  167,  176,  1 80,  241,  251,  274 

,  Richard,  junior,  162 

Fortescue,  Hon.  Julia,  148 
Fox,  Charles  Richard,  422 
Freeman 's  Journal,  292 
Fuller,  Mr.  J.  Franklin,  vii,  18,  20, 

55.  165 

Gainsborough,  Thomas,  183,  186 
Gazetteer,  The,  153, 166,168-9,  171 


Genest,     John,     103,     121,    198, 

399 
Gentleman's  Magazine,   The,  129, 

136,  192,  213,  273 
George  III,  M7-55, 180-2,  225-7. 

277 
IV,  146,  148,  150,  163.  175, 

180,  257,  279,  302,  317 
Gillray,  James,  179 
Gloucester,  Duchess  of,  175 
Glover,  William  Howard,  28 
Goodall,  Mrs.,  170,  199 
Gordon,  Duchess  of,  276 
,  Lord  Frederick,  422 

— ,  Pryse  Lockhart,  43-4 
Gould,  barrister,  295 
Great  Illegitimates,  The,  18,  52,  94, 

105,  107-8,  in,  140,  157,  159, 

161-2,  164,  176,  202,  249,  251, 

254,  3M,  38o 
Greatorex,    Englishman    living  in 

Paris,  395.  399 
Greenwich,  Lady,  153 
Gunning,  General,  252 

Hanger,  Major,  175 

Harris,  Thomas,  83,  86,  120, 124 

Haslewood,  Joseph,  17 

Hastings,  Warren,  125 

Hawker,  Lady,  Lucy  Ford,  197, 
214,  242,  252,  286,  290,  293, 
298,  302,  303-4,  340,  361,  366, 
393,  400,  401,  421 

,  General  Sir  Samuel,  298,  303, 

376.  397.  4°!.  421 

,  Colonel,  381 

Hayes,  Sir  John,  241 

Hazlitt,  William,  86 

Henshaw,  William,  396 

Herbert,  Joseph  Dowling,  37~4O» 

44.  49.  53 

Hewson,  Major  L.,  viii 
Hill,  Lady  Anne,  108 

,  John  Foster,  108 

Hitchcock,  Robert,  21,  23,  30 
Hobart,  Henry,  153 

,  Mrs.,  190-2,  254 

Honeywood,  General,  26 
Hoppner,  John,  183,  185 
Hotham,  Baron  and  Lady,  257 
Huish,  Robert,  19,  326 
Hunt,  Leigh,  183 


426 


Index 


Inchbald,  George,  74,  90 

,  Mrs.,  85,  121 

Ireland,  Samuel,  205 
,  William  Henry,  205 

ackson,  of  Edinburgh,  127,  130 
errold,  Douglas,  355,  381 
ohnson,  General  James,  21 
ones,  Frederick,  271,  291,  295 
ordan,  Dorothy,  her  birth,  31 ;  her 
baptism,  32 ;  first  appearance  on 
stage,  39;  in  The  Virgin  Un- 
masked, 40;  in  As  You  Like  It,  40; 
in  The  Governess,  40-1 ;  in  The 
Romp,  41;  visit  to  Cork,  44; 
first  offer  of  marriage,  45  ;  in  The 
Count  of  Narbonne,  50,  53  ;  and 
Daly,  50;  in  The  Gamester,  Tamer- 
lane, Richard  III,  The  Bellas 
Stratagem,  The  Discovery,  The 
School  for  Scandal,  The  Taming 
of  the  Shrew,  and  The  Maid  of 
the  Oaks,  53 ;  in  Leeds,  57  ;  and 
Wilkinson,  58 ;  in  The  Fair 
Penitent,  61 ;  in  Leeds,  61,  91  ; 
takes  name  of  Jordan,  62  ;  and 
Mr.  Swan,  66  ;  salary  doubled, 
67  ;  in  The  Fair  American,  68  ; 
jealousy  of  fellow  actresses,  68  ; 
in  danger  of  her  life,  68  et  seq. ; 
gives  birth  to  Frances  Daly,  70  ; 
the  "  Scandal  Club,"  70;  at  Shef- 
field, 71  ;  kindness  to  young 
actress,  73  ;  in  love  with  George 
Inchbald,  74,  90;  in  The  Poor 
Soldier,  75;  refusal  to  act,  75; 
London  offer,  77;  and  Mrs. 
Brown,  78  ;  in  The  Country  Girl, 
77,  82;  in  Cymbeline,  80 ;  criti- 
cisms upon,  83  ;  two  increases 
of  salary,  87 ;  in  Trip  to  Scar- 
borough, 88 ;  in  The  Irish  Widow, 
and  She  Would  and  She  Would 
Not,  89 ;  her  triumph,  89 ;  her 
first  tour,  90  ;  and  Mrs.  Robin- 
son, 91  et  seq. ;  first  visit  to  Scot- 
land, 97 ;  epilogue  written  by, 
97  ;  Glasgow  tribute  to,  98  ;  dis- 
appointment at  Hull,  98 ;  in 
RichardC&urdeLion,  99 ;  failure 
in  Cymbeline,  101  ;  in  Love  for 
Love  and  The  Pilgrim,  103  ;  her 


amours,  105  ;  calls  herself  Mrs. 
Ford,  106  ;  birth  of  daughter  in 
Edinburgh,  no;  trouble  with 
Drury  Lane  manager,  113  ;  in 
The  Constant  Couple,  117;  at 
Cheltenham,  119;  birth  of 
daughter,  121  ;  in  The  Panel, 
Impostors,  and  The  Confederacy, 
122  ;  as  Child  of  Nature,  122  ; 
quarrel  with  Kemble,  124,  193  ; 
in  Know  Your  Own  Mind,  123  ; 
threatens  to  leave  Drury  Lane, 
125  ;  and  Tate  Wilkinson,  126  ; 
death  of  her  mother,  128  ;  trouble 
with  Jackson,  130 ;  in  Belle's 
Stratagem,  The  Spoiled  Child, 
etc.,  134  ;  again  goes  to  York- 
shire, 137 ;  in  The  Greek  Slave, 
Better  Late  Than  Never,  and  The 
Intriguing  Chambermaid,  137; 
final  quarrel  with  Wilkinson,  138 ; 
said  to  have  joined  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  in  1789,  153  ;  carica- 
ture, 154;  scandal  about,  154; 
epilogue  to  Greek  Slave,  155; 
parts  with  Ford,  156-62 ;  exoner- 
ating letters  from  Ford,  161 ; 
theatrical  jealousy  of,  163;  agree- 
ment with  Clarence,  164 ;  in  dis- 
tress, 166;  legacy,  167;  takes 
house  at  Brompton,  168 ;  absent 
from  theatre,  public  excitement, 
169-76;  salary  taken  by  Duke, 
176;  caricatures  of,  178-80;  in 
Cheap  Living,  1 78 ;  her  portraits, 
183;  sits  to  Romney,  184;  in 
The  Fugitive,  189 ;  letter  to  Mrs. 
Hobart,  190 ;  miscarriage,  192 ; 
letter  to  Sheridan,  194 ;  in  Anna, 
195 ;  in  All  in  the  Wrong,  and 
The  Female  Duellist,  196;  trouble 
about  playbills,  196;  birth  of 
George  Fitzclarence,  197;  in  The 
Wedding  Day  and  Nobody,  198 ; 
in  First  Love  and  The  Old  Maid, 
200;  at  Richmond,  200;  offer 
from  Daly,  200;  in  The  Plain 
Dealer,  202 ;  birth  of  Henry,  202 ; 
breakfasts  at  St.  James's,  204  ; 
in  Vortigern  and  Rowena,  204  ; 
and  the  Irelands,  204-7 ;  trouble 
with  Kemble  over  Hamlet,  207  ; 


Index 


427 


gives  her  services,  209 ;  at  Rich- 
mond, 210 ;  at  Bushy  House, 
2i2;  introduced  to  Boaden,  218  ; 
Macklin,  220 ;  in  The  Will  and 
The  Last  of  the  Family,  221  ; 
the  Irishman  and,  222;  in  The 
Prize  and  The  Castle  Spectre, 
222  ;  in  She's  Eloped,  and  The 
Stranger,  223 ;  in  The  East 
Indian  and  Pizarro,  224  ;  com- 
mand performances,  226 ;  in  The 
School  for  Scandal,  227 ;  as  com- 
poser, 228 ;  her  children,  230  ; 
want  of  money,  230;  her  rela- 
tions, 231  ;  accident  by  fire,  239 ; 
in  The  Busybody,  241 ;  in  The 
Marriage  Promise,  242 ;  in  The 
Soldier's  Daughter,  Delaval, 
Clara,  and  The  Land  We  Live 
In,  243;  and  Betty,  245;  birth 
of  Augustus  and  Augusta,  247; 
in  Thalia's  Tears,  250;  f§te  at 
Gyfford  Lodge,  252;  Clarence's 
birthday  party,  256-61  ;  and 
Pierce  Egan,  261 ;  birth  of 
Amelia,  263  ;  illness,  264,  271 ;  at 
Bath,  270;  in  The  Chance,  271 ; 
in  Man  and  Wife,  272  ;  marriage 
settlement  of  Dorothea,  274  ;  her 
letters,  275,  278,  285,  287,  309, 
314 ;  savings,  275  ;  quarrels  with 
Clarence,  275,  281,  314;  scandal, 
276;  leaves  Drury  Lane,  280; 
loss  by  fire,  280  ;  sends  money 
to  Clarence,  286 ;  returns  to 
Dublin,  290 ;  the  Battle  of  Tala- 
vera,  294;  at  Liverpool,  etc., 
297 ;  liberality  at  Chester,  300 ; 
marriage  of  Lucy,  303 ;  proposed 
epitaph  on,  304 ;  and  the  Method- 
ists, 305 ;  rush  from  Glasgow, 
305 ;  to  leave  the  stage,  306 ;  at 
Covent  Garden,  312,  347;  sum- 
moned from  Cheltenham,  318; 
negotiations  for  separation,  322 ; 
the  settlement,  329-31 ;  leaves 
Bushy  Park,  339  ;  pays  Alsop's 
debts  and  returns  to  stage,  342  ; 
at  Leicester,  345;  attacked  by 
The  Times,  347 ;  in  Debtor  and 
Creditor,  352 ;  goes  to  Brussels, 
354;  income,  370-1 ;  and  Colonel 


Coffin,  373;  last  appearance, 
373  ;  ruined  by  March,  374  ;  asks 
Barton's  help,  376  ;  sells  her 
furniture,  380;  at  Marquetra, 
381  ;  at  Versailles,  at  St.  Cloud, 
384;  her  poverty,  385  ;  her  fears, 
386  ;  last  illness,  391  ;  story  of 
her  death,  392  ;  her  burial,  394  ; 
grave  and  inscription,  399  ;  her 
jewels,  401  ;  sale  of  her  effects, 
401  ;  her  savings,  404  ;  debt  on 
her  grave,  405  ;  debts  advertised, 
406 

Jordan,  Dorothy,  an  earlier  bap- 
tismal entry,  64 

Jordan's  Elixir  of  Life,  17,  19,  21, 


Keate,  Dr.,  171 
Keates,  Admiral,  267 
Keith,  Lord,  337 
Kelly,  Michael,  163,  225 
Kemble,  Charles,  240,  241 

—  ,  John  Philip,  40,  5°.  53.  "X, 

114,  119,  124,  134-5,  141,  193. 

198,  205-9,  218,  224,  237,  240, 

244-5,  290 

-  ,  Stephen,  141,  144,  197 
Kemeys,  Diana,  25 

Kent,  Edward,  Duke  of,  248,  257, 

259,  339 
King,  Tom,  82,  86-7,   108,   in 

114,  119,120,  239 
Knight,  Joseph,  21, 
Kotzebue,  dramatist,  224 

Lawrence,    Mr.    W.   J.,  viii,   44, 

1  86 

Lefanu,  Mrs.,  42 
Leicester,  Lord,  257 
Leslie,  C.  R.,  264 
Lewis,  Charles  Lee,  197,  240 

-  ,  "  Monk,"  222 
Linsingen,  Caroline  von,  150-1 

-  ,  Ernst  von,  150 

-  ,  General  Wilhelm,  150 
Litchfield,  Mrs.,  187,  240 
Lloyd,  Jane,  34<>,  353,  3^5,  37'-2 

-  ,  Mrs.,  214,  217,370 

-  ,  Rev.  Thomas,  214,  251,  373 
Londonderry,  Marquis  of,  268 
Long,  Lady  Catherine  Tylney,  316 


428 


Index 


Long,  Catherine  Tylney,  311,  316 

319-323,  328,  333-7 
Lumm,   Sir  Francis,    21,   32,   34, 

107,  1 66 
,  Lady,  107,  157,  166 

Macklin,  Charles,  220 

M'Mahon,  Colonel,  257,  342,  356, 

364 

Mahoney,  Catherine,  33,  34,  35 
March,    Dorothea    Maria   (Ford), 

197,  214,  242,  252,  273-5,  281, 

361,  402,  421 
,  Frederick  Edward,  275,  283, 

304,   357.   363-7,    374-9,    383, 

389,  410-1,  421 

,  Leopold,  421 

Marron,  Rev.  Mr.,  396 
Marshall,  Serjeant,  257 
Massereene,  Earl  of,  254 
Mathews,  Charles,  264 
Mellon,    Harriot,   Duchess  of  St. 

Albans,  128,  247 
Messenger,  405 
"  Miso  Puff,"  208 
Moira,  Lord,  342,  364 
Mongis,  Jean  Jacques,  391,  394 
Monthly  Mirror,   210,   227,   238, 

248,  266,  296,  304 
Moore,  Sir  John,  289 

,  Thomas,  418 

Morland,  George,  183,  186 
Morning  Chronicle,  164,  171,  175 
Morning  Herald,  84 
Morning  Post,  82,  no,  121,  124, 

251,  253,  284,  349 
Mountain,  Mrs.      See   Wilkinson, 

Miss 

Munster,  Aubrey,  Earl  of,  400 
,  Earl  of,  viii. 

News,  349,  407 
Nixon,  Andrew,  303 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  68,  109 
North,  Lady,  212 
Northcote,  James,  245 
Notes  and  Queries,  228,  418 

Ogborne,  John,  184 
O'Keefe,  John,  40,  223 
Oldenburg,  Duchess  of,  337 
Oliphant,  Laurence,  233 


Orange,  Prince  of,  200,  352 
Oxberry,  William,  49,  50,  78,  317 

Paget,  Colonel,  257 
Palmer,  John,  120,  224 

,  Mrs.,  205 

Parsons,  William,  120 
Pasquin,  Anthony,  146 
Philipps,  Blanch  Scuddamore.  See 

Williams 
,  Grace  (Mrs.  Francis  Bland), 

17,    20-4,    28-45,    54.     56-60, 

78-80,  129 

,  Miss  M.,  23-4,  63-5 

,  Rev.  (?  Richard),  20,  22 

,  Rev.  Scuddamore,  22 

Pindar,  Peter,  Jun.,  163,  177,  334, 

338 

Pitt,  William,  248 
Pole,  Wellesley,  321,  328,  337-7 
Political  Register,  256-261 
Pope,  Mrs.,  199,  209 

,  Jane,  269 

Public  Advertiser,   89,   no,  115, 

170 
Punch,  177,  185 

Quentin,  Colonel,  355 

Rambler,  123 
Reynolds,  Frederick,  221 
Richardson,  Rev.  William,  114 
Richmond,    Duke    and    Duchess, 

291 

Roberts,  Mr.  W.,  viii.,  183 
Robinson,  Mrs.  ("Perdita"),  198 
,    Mrs.    (later    Mrs.    Taylor), 

79,  90,  112 
Romanzini,     Maria    Teresa.       See 

Bland,  Mrs.  George 

,  Mrs.,  51 

Romney,  George,  183 
Roos,  Lady  de,  298 
Russell,  actor,  261 

,  Sir  Henry,  183 

Ryder,  Thomas,  38,  40,  42,  46 

,  Miss,  138 

Ryley,  Samuel,  299 

St.  Leger,  Colonel,  175 

Satirist,  The,  264 

Sciard,  Louis  Amable,  394 


Index 


429 


Secret  History  of  the  Green  Room, 
17,  52,  133,  135,  167,  187,  190 

Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  82, 
84,  106,  in,  125,  181, 193,207, 
218,  224,  225,  279,  280 

,  Thomas,  23 

,  Tom,  271 

Siddons,  Mrs.,  77,  79,  81,  88,  99, 
101-4,  108,  118,  1 20,  123-4, 
128,  135,  141,  197-8,  205,  208, 
222,  224,  236,  241,  244-5,  25°> 

35i 
Sinclair,  Mrs.,  214-5 

,  Robert,  215 

Sketchley,  Miss,  341,  366,  381-2, 

384,  386,  389,  393.  4OI~2.  4" 
Smith,  "Gentleman,"  67,  77,  83, 

119   120 

,  Mrs.,  69 

Southey,  Robert,  338 
Stewart,  General,  289 
Stirling,  Miss  A.  M.  W.,  269 
Strange,  Alexander,  216 

,  General  Thomas  Bland,  215 

Sun,  The,  253,  349 
Sussex,  Duke  of,  248,  257 
Swan,  Cornelius,  66 
Sydney,  Viscount  Henry,  25 

Taylor,  Mrs.     See  Mrs.  Robinson 
Tennant,  Sir  Charles,  184 
Theatrical  Inquisitor,    269,    349, 

353 

Thimbleby,  Miss,  233,  417 
Tickell,  Mrs.,  84 
Times,  347,  394 
Town  and  Country  Magazine,  17, 

105,  251,  260 
Traherne,  H.  M.  A.,  193 
Troubridge,  Admiral  Sir  Thomas, 

267 

Turner,  Miss,  213,  216 
Tweeddale,  Marchioness  of,  252 

Usher,  actor,  24 


Vicars,  Miss,  45 
Vickery,  W.,  385 
Victoria,  Queen,  15,  417 

Walker's  Hibernian  Magazine,  42, 

54 
Walpole,  Horace,  86,  152-3,  156, 

158,  191 
Ward,  Mr.  Humphry,  183 

,  Mrs.,  actress,  71 

Ware,  Charles  H.,  275 
Watkins,  Rev.  John,  160,  172 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  337 
Wenman,  Lord,  338 
Westmeath,  Lord,  271 
White,  Mrs.,  viii 
Whyte,  Mr.  Frederick,  26 
Wigley,  Charles,  380,  402 
Wilkinson,  Miss  (Mrs.  Mountain), 

72,78 
,  Tate,   56  et  seq.,  91,   109, 

115,  125,  128,  138,  145,  196 
William,  Prince,  175 
Williams,   Helen  Maria,  99,  100, 

221,  389,  392 

,  Mrs.,  22,  33,  37,  81,  167 

,  Thomas,  22 

Withers,  — ,  402-3 

Woffington,  Peg,  86 

Wolcot,    Dr.    ("Peter    Pindar"). 

87 

Woodfall,  William,  79 
Woodgate,  Henry,  399,  401 
World,  The,  151 
Wowski,  151 

Wright,  Rev.  William,  172 
Wroughton,    Richard,    178,    211, 

271 

Wykeham,  Miss,  Baroness  Wen- 
man, 338-9 

York,   Frederick,    Duke  of,    149, 
180-1,  232,  234,  257-9,  277-8, 

356 
Young,  Dr.  Townsend,  13,  343 


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